Here are more words and phrases for romantic relationships that will warm your heart
Bae
Bae is slang for “baby” or “sweetheart” and pronounced like “bay.”
Although bae may seem like a new word to some, according to our archives first appeared in print in1983, a year that also gave us ringtone, stressed-out, and onesie. Bae was added to our online dictionary in 2018, following a dramatic uptick in its recorded use.
Ship
Some relationships are actual, and some are vicarious. The latter are what led, about a quarter century ago, to the noun relationship being shortened to ship and used as a verb meaning “to wishfully regard (specific people or fictional characters) as being or having the potential to become romantically involved with one another.”
Canoodle
We define canoodle as “to engage in amorous embracing, caressing, and kissing.” Since it first appeared in the language around the mid-19th century, canoodle has most often been used humorously and playfully for public displays of affection by lovestruck couples (it’s also a favorite of gossip columnists).
Etymologists aren’t certain whence came canoodle. It may have formed from an English dialect noun of the same spelling (meaning “donkey,” “fool,” or “foolish lover”) which itself may be an alteration of the word noodle, meaning “foolish person.” That noodle, in turn, may come from noddle, a word for the head.
Shack Up
Both the noun and verb forms of [shack] arose as American slang in the late 1800s. The noun is suspected to be a back-formation of shackly, an adjective meaning “rickety” or “ramshackle.” The original sense of the verb was simply “to live in a shack.” The phrase “shack up,” first recorded in the early 1900s, often meant spending the night any old place, including, say, your mom’s house. Nowadays, however, “shack up” often carries a distinct, spicy connotation.
Main Squeeze
Squeeze has referred to a gesture of friendship and affection in the form of a handshake or hug since the 18th century. One’s “main squeeze,” however, was originally one’s boss or any person in charge.
By the beginning of the 20th century, people began bragging about their “main squeeze”—that is, their primary (potentially beanie-loving) partner in romance.