ardour

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

ardour (countable and uncountable, plural ardours)

1. British, Canada, and Australia spelling of ardor
   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 120:

     I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.

   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     The purpose of my visit, and the frightful abnormalities it postulated struck at me all at once with a chill sensation that nearly over-balanced my ardour for strange delvings.

Translations

ardour — see ardor

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ardoure, ardowr, ardure

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman ardour, ardur, from Latin ārdor, ārdōrem; compare ardaunt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /arˈduːr/, /ˈardur/

Noun

ardour (plural ardours) (rare, Late Middle English)

1. ardour (emotional passion or intensity)
2. A fiery, painful feeling.

Descendants

• English: ardor, ardour

References

• “ardǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Noun

ardour oblique singular, f (oblique plural ardours, nominative singular ardour, nominative plural ardours)

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of ardur

   toun ardour et l’estudie de aprendre […] deit estre provee