Lothario

Lothario

See also: lothario

English

Alternative forms

• lothario

Etymology

Named after Lothario, a character in the play The Fair Penitent,[1][2] a reference to a seducer of the same name in the metastory of the Quixote called The Impertinent Curious Man.[3]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /loʊˈθɛəɹioʊ/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Noun

Lothario (plural Lotharios)

1. A man whose chief interest is seducing, usually women.

   Synonyms: ladykiller, Casanova, Romeo; see also Thesaurus:promiscuous man, Thesaurus:libertine

   Coordinate term: Romeo

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Schools and Schoolmasters”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 437:

     High times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are to be permitted to invade the sanctity of domestic bliss; though do what the Bashaw will, he cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of his bed; for alas! all fish bed in common.

   • 1919, Rudyard Kipling, “A Code of Morals”, in Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads:

     He warned her 'gainst seductive youths in scarlet clad and gold, / As much as 'gainst the blandishments paternal of the old; / But kept his gravest warnings for (hereby my ditty hangs) / That snowy-haired Lothario Lieutenant-General Bangs.

Translations

seducer

Chinese: Mandarin: 好色之徒 (zh) (hàosèzhītú) Czech: lamač dívčích srdcí, svůdník m Dutch: verleider (nl), rokkenjager (nl), verleider (nl) Finnish: naistenmies (fi) French: coureur de jupons (fr) m, don Juan (fr) m German: Don Juan (de) m, Schürzenjäger (de) m Latin: femellarius m, mulierarius m Polish: uwodziciel (pl) m, casanova (pl) m Russian: ловела́с (ru) m (lovelás), бабник (ru) m (babnik) Spanish: seductor (es) m

References

1. “Lothario”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
2. Nicholas Rowe (1703) The Fair Penitent‎
3. Miguel de Cervantes (1605), “In which is related the novel of "The Ill-Advised Curiosity"”, in , John Ormsby, transl., Don Quixote, published 1885

Further reading

• Lothario on Wikipedia.Wikipedia