smitten kitten
1
9.1
- noun
- Informal
:
enamorado
- Looking like a smitten kitten.
Examples
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Everyone could tell he was a smitten kitten because he couldn't stop talking about her.
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After their first date, he became a smitten kitten, unable to stop smiling when he thought of her.
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She was acting like a smitten kitten whenever her crush walked by, blushing and giggling.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A person who shows too much love in a silly, naive way
How Overwhelmed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The headword 'smitten' already conveys the core meaning of being lovestruck, while 'kitten' contributes a diminutive/affectionate, cute nuance; the combined meaning is a metaphorical extension rather than an unrelated idiom. A B1 learner who knows both words can plausibly infer that 'smitten kitten' refers to someone who is clearly and endearingly smitten, but the exact affectionate/childlike shading is somewhat figurative and not purely compositional.
Etymology
Smitten kitten may come from the image of someone who is smitten, or struck by love, acting like a small kitten, wide-eyed, shy and full of happy feelings. So smitten kitten means 'deeply in love' or 'lovestruck' and shows someone who cannot hide their feelings.