Love's Labour's Lost
Preserved but no longer current.
The exact form of the title of this, probably the first of Shakespeare's plays (1588), cannot be ascertained, but the above is the generally accepted form, the first *"s" denoting the possessive, and the second the contraction of "is.
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 “Love's Labour's Lost” mean?
The exact form of the title of this, probably the first of Shakespeare's plays (1588), cannot be ascertained, but the above is the generally accepted form, the first *"s" denoting the possessive, and the second the contraction of "is.
Is “Love's Labour's Lost” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.