Noun

1. A child born as a result of a romantic liaison between parents not married to one another; an illegitimate child.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 36:

     Nobody ever came to see her, nobody spoke of her, nobody cared about her. Mr Brass had said once, that he believed she was a ‘love-child’ (which means anything but a child of love).