calf love

American  

noun

1. puppy love.

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calf love British  

noun

1. Also called: puppy love.  temporary infatuation or love of an adolescent for a member of the opposite sex

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Etymology

Origin of calf love

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

In the 24 years since young Jack Pickford played Willie Baxter in the silent screen version of Seventeen, cinemaddicts forgot how much charm there is in that classic of calf love on Main Street.

From Time Magazine Archive

But Edward Ellis, who helped make memorable the cheaply made quickie, A Man To Remember, does not turn the trick with this thin-spun tale of village politics, catty gossip, calf love.

From Time Magazine Archive

But this is not the true calf love.

From Pebbles on the shore [by] Alpha of the plough by Gardiner, A. G. (Alfred George)

Nevertheless, he ascended her steps at exactly half-past eight with the blood pounding in his ears and his heart acting like a schoolboy's in his first attack of calf love.

From Black Oxen by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn

In the days of calf love every boy has first tasted the sweetness of literature in two of the best novels ever written, as well as two of the best pieces of good English. 

From Books and Bookmen by Maclaren, Ian