Outloving

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Showing greater affection or devotion than someone else does, surpassing a rival in tender feeling
2. Describing one who exceeds another in the warmth and depth of their love for a person or thing
3. Expressing a fondness that goes beyond what others feel, loving more deeply than a competitor does

Etymology: "Outloving" is the present participle of "outlove," a verb built from the prefix "out-" and the everyday word "love." The prefix here works in its common English sense of surpassing or exceeding, the same sense found in "outrun," "outlast," and "outshine." So an "outlover" is someone whose affection goes beyond another's, and to outlove someone is to love them more than they love you. The formation is entirely transparent: "out-" attached to "love" with no sound change or shift in meaning along the way. Its interest lies less in a surprising history than in how readily English speakers generate such verbs, since "out-" can be prefixed to almost any verb to mean doing it better or longer than someone else.