cupid's golden arrow
Preserved but no longer current.
Virtuous love. Cupid's leaden arrow, sensual passion. Deque sagittifera promisit duo tela pharetra Diversorum operum; fugat hoc, facil illud amorem. Quod facit auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta — Quod fugat ofatusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum. OVID : Apollo and Daphne.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “cupid's golden arrow” mean?
Virtuous love. Cupid's leaden arrow, sensual passion. Deque sagittifera promisit duo tela pharetra Diversorum operum; fugat hoc, facil illud amorem. Quod facit auratum est et cuspide fulget acuta — Quod fugat ofatusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum. OVID : Apollo and Daphne.
Is “cupid's golden arrow” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.