camelar

Inherited from Romani kamel (“to love”), of uncertain etymology.

camelar

1. to court
2. to enamor
3. to desire
4. to love

• → Spanish: camelar

• “camelar” in J. Tineo Rebolledo, A Chipicalli (La Llengua Gitana), Granada: Gómez de la Cruz, 1900, →OCLC, page 27.
• “camelar” in Francisco Quindalé, Diccionario gitano, Madrid: Oficina Tipográfica del Hospicio.
• “camelar” in Vocabulario : Caló - Español, Portal del Flamenco y Universidad.

From Caló camelar, from Romani kamel (“to love”), of uncertain etymology.

• IPA^(key): /kameˈlaɾ/ [ka.meˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ca‧me‧lar

camelar (first-person singular present camelo, first-person singular preterite camelé, past participle camelado)

1. (Spain, transitive) to cajole, to sweet-talk, to win over
   • 1994, José Ángel Mañas, chapter VII, in Historias del Kronen, Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, →ISBN, page 101:

     —Hay que ser un poco monaguillo, Carlitos. Me he camelado a mi primo para que se ponga en mi lugar hoy.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (colloquial, transitive) to seduce

   Synonym: seducir

   • (Can we date this quote?), Benito Pérez Galdós, La Revolución de Julio:

     Para mí, Gracián cameló a la Rosenda, que antes fue querida de un tal Castillejo

     The way I see it, Gracián seduced Rosenda, who before that was the lover of certain Castillejo.

3. (colloquial, transitive) to love

   Synonyms: amar, querer

• “camelar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024