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to lose one's heart to

to lose one's heart to

1 4.4
To fall in love with someone or something
  • idiom
translation icon : enamorarse de
  • He completely lost his heart to her the moment they met.

Examples

  • And I don't mind telling you I've completely lost my heart to you.

  • As teachers, we lose our hearts to the so-called brilliant students and grudgingly serve the masses.

    Academic text (1995)
  • There was a time I would have lost my heart to a face like yours.

  • I lost my heart to a girl.

  • It's the smile he lost his heart to.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Our Freeman lost his heart to this woman.

  • He seems to have lost his heart to you. "He knows I like him," she said.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • ♪ I lost my heart to you ♪

  • However, I thought that even in this simple old photograph, with its black and white fading into sepia and its edges fraying, Momma looked so pretty that it was easy to see why Daddy had lost his heart to her so quickly, even though she was only fifteen at the time.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • After weeks of dating, she finally lost her heart to him.

Synonyms

to fall in love
vsto lose one's heart to
950 2.5

To begin to feel strong romantic feelings for someone

is the same feeling but often names who or what it is for
to fall in love with
vsto lose one's heart to
475 1.6

To begin to feel strong romantic feelings for someone or something

is the same idea but uses an idiomatic metaphor instead of plain words
to fall for
vsto lose one's heart to
  • Informal
84 3.7

To start to like someone as more than a friend

describes the same romantic change but without stressing speed
to lose one's heart
vsto lose one's heart to
1 4.7

To fall in love suddenly, often without planning

is the general experience without emphasis on suddenness
to run off with someone's heart
vsto lose one's heart to
  • Informal
7.4

Make a person fall deeply and quickly in love with you

focuses on the person falling rather than someone deliberately winning them over

Antonyms

839 1.9

Refuse to accept someone or something

How Affectionate

to lose one's heart to
1 4.4
to take to
107 3.8
to attract
991 1.9

Surface Forms

lose one's heart to infinitive
losing one's heart to present participle
loses one's heart to third person singular
lost one's heart to past participle

Morphology

lose + one + heart + to

The noun 'heart' as the seat of emotions plus the directional 'to' makes it partly inferable that the phrase concerns giving emotional attachment to someone; a learner who knows the words may guess it relates to feelings. However, 'lose' here is metaphorical (not literal loss) and can be confused with other senses (e.g., 'lose heart' = become discouraged), so the specific sense 'fall in love' is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Lose one's heart to comes from the old idea that the heart is where our feelings live. Imagine giving your heart away to a person or a place, so it now means 'to fall in love with'.