dovey

dovey
   A diminutive of ‘dove’, used as an affectionate term of address. It seems to have come into use at about the same time as ‘lovey’, in the eighteenth century. It is difficult to know whether the terms evolved separately and were then coupled together, or whether ‘lovey-dovey’ came into being and caused the individual vocatives to be used. The magazine Punch asked, in 1884, ‘what would Dovey do if Lovey were to die?’ There is some suggestion that ‘lovey-dovey’ was used of a couple where the man was addressed as ‘lovey’ by the woman, while he used ‘dovey’ to her.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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