heartbreakern.
/ˈhɑːtˌbreɪkə/, U.S. /ˈhɑrtˌbreɪkər/ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > according to other attributes
horn of salvation (health)c825
fatherOE
Our FatherOE
leecha1200
searcher of (men's) heartsa1382
untempter1382
headstone of the cornerc1400
Valentinec1450
illuminator1485
sun?1521
righteous maker1535
shepherd1535
verity1535
strengthener1567
gracer1592
heart-searcher1618
heartbreaker1642
sustainera1680
philanthropist1730
the invisible1781
praise1782
All-Father1814
wisdom1855
omniscient1856
engracer1866
inbreather1873
God of the gaps1933
the great —— in the sky1968
1642 E. Calamy Englands Looking-glasse 38 Let us pray to the great heart-maker, that hee would be the heart-breaker.
1663 W. Dyer Christ's Famous Titles 84 Heart-work is God's work: the great heart-maker, must be the great heart-breaker; none can do it but he.
2. A (typically artificial) ringlet or curl in a woman's hair, arranged or worn as an ornament (usually in plural); a woman's lovelock. Now literary and historical.In quots. 1663 and 1943 used disparagingly of Samson's long hair.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > hair of head > curl > [noun]
feak1548
lovelock1592
crisple1594
curl1604
cockle1608
crisp1638
ringlet1645
cockera1653
heartbreaker1654
moustache1662
confidenta1685
cruchea1685
passagerea1685
favourite1690
wimpler1724
cannon1774
whisker1786
favori1801
curlet1803
tendril1814
sausage curl1828
spit-curl1831
crimp1855
curdle1860
number sices1861
whiskerette1880
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > practice of wearing artificial hair > [noun] > artificial hair
chevelure1470
heartbreaker1654
wig1675
tête1756
wiggery1775
transformation1901
1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iii. viii. 121 Gloves, Handkerchieffs, Heart-breakers, Ribbands, Fillits, Fancies, Pictures.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. i. 19 Like Sampson's Heart-breakers, it grew In time to make a nation rue.
1682 T. D'Urfey Butler's Ghost i. 46 First, off with that superfluous Hair, And in its stead Heart-breakers wear.
1769 J. Granger Biogr. Hist. Eng. II. ii. 471 The ladies hair was curled and frizled with the nicest art, and they frequently set it off with heartbreakers.
1785 W. Crakelt Entick's New Spelling Dict. (rev. ed.) Heartbreaker, a woman's curls or ringlets.
1840 G. L. Craik & C. MacFarlane Pict. Hist. Eng. III. vii. vi. 633/1 The quantity of heart-breakers that required to be scented and curled.
1874 A. Wynter Peeps into Human Hive II. 251 Another charmer passes by with an auburn ‘heart-breaker’ coquettishly thrown over her shoulder that does not quite match her own tresses.
1903 A. M. Earle Two Cent. Costume Amer. II. xix. 508 These heart-breakers were sometimes wired that they might flutter alluringly..like butterfly wings.
1943 R. Graves Story Marie Powell xxiii. 317 Did you fear that I was come to cut off your heartbreakers and so annul your holy masculine virtue?
2007 C. Clark Nature of Monsters xxiii. 196 I spent hours with curling papers and rags to create heartbreakers, the two small curls at the nape of the neck that were supposed to set men's pulses racing.
3. A person who breaks hearts; (also) a physically attractive person (esp. a woman) who has many admirers.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > broken-heartedness > [noun] > one who breaks the heart
heartbreaker1674
heartbreak1694
1674 ‘Mr. C.’ Bristol Drollery 12 You then Heart-robbers, and Heart-breakers are.
1697 T. D'Urfey Intrigues at Versailles v. i. 54 'Tis your new Mistress, the heart breaker Vandosme.
1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 265 He had told a fine Lady that he had known her a Heart-breaker for above twenty Years.
1790 New Spain iii. v. 59 I have a great mind to..rid the world of such an heart-breaker.
1827 N.Y. Mirror 10 Feb. 230/2 This infidel in love,..this heart-breaker, was himself to feel the anguish he had inflicted upon others.
1863 Notes & Queries 3rd Ser. 4 301 We don't refer to the ball-room butterfly..but to the regular professional heart-breaker.
1920 H. L. Smith Agatha's Aunt ix. 138 If I ever became such a heart-breaker that I had a batch of proposals,..I'd take as long as I could to make up my mind.
1994 P. Simons Tully (1995) ii. 8 My, aren't you growing up, your hair looks so lovely, you gonna be such a heartbreaker!
2011 J. Charbonneau Skating over Line xxi. 252 Your father is a heartbreaker. Always knows just what a girl wants to hear.
4. Something that causes sorrow, anguish, or despair; an extremely disappointing or upsetting event or circumstance.
ΚΠ
1805 A. Holmes Amer. Ann. I. 451 M. de la Sale..had..built a fort on the river Illinois, and called it Crevecœur. [Note] ‘Heart breaker’, on account of troubles he met with there.
1837 W. E. Burton Burton's Comic Songster 301 I'll try what the lawyers can do; For she's broken her promise, and broken my heart, And the law is a heartbreaker, too.
1874 Sunday Mag. 108/2 You'd know what a heart-breaker it must be to have to pay for things that have been stolen.
1943 Billboard 14 Aug. 64/1 Your cowboy music trade likes the sad ones best—and ‘Why do I dream such Dreams?’ is a heart-breaker.
1973 Alton (Iowa) Democrat 14 Feb. 14/3 The second game was a real heartbreaker with the Dutch gals losing in overtime by a 30 to 28 encounter.
2008 P. Sampras Champion's Mind viii. 206 I..lost a heartbreaker of a semifinal (in a third-set tiebreaker).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1642