[It. = ‘with love.’] With love, zeal, or delight.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, II. 352. The Life of POPE was written by Johnson con amore, both from the early possession which that writer had taken of his mind, and from the pleasure which he must have felt, in for ever silencing all attempts to lessen his poetical fame.
1807. T. Blore, Corr. w. R. Phillips, 11. I have labored con amore and not in pursuit of fame.
1826. Lamb, Lett. B. Barton, 7 Feb. You wrote them [poems] with love—to avoid the coxcombical phrase, con amore.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Fr. Wines & Pol., iv. 55. He begged to go first … expatiating con amore on his commodity.
1859. M. Napier, Life Vct. Dundee, I. I. 145. The murderous work, which he performed con amore.
b. quasi-adj. Friendly, hearty.
1828. The Harrovian, 155. He has frequently spoken of his poetical labours in no very con-amore terms.
