noun, plural li·bi·dos.
- Psychoanalysis. all of the instinctual energies and desires that are derived from the id.
- sexual instinct or sexual drive.
noun plural -dos
- psychoanal psychic energy emanating from the id
- sexual urge or desire
n.“psychic drive or energy, usually associated with sexual instinct,” 1892, carried over untranslated in English edition of Krafft-Ebing’s “Psychopathia Sexualis”; and used in 1909 in A.A. Brill’s translation of Freud’s “Selected Papers on Hysteria” (Freud’s use of the term led to its popularity); from Latin libido “desire, lust,” from libere “to be pleasing, to please,” ultimately cognate with Old English lufu (see love (n.)). n. pl. li•bi•dos
- The psychic and emotional energy associated with instinctual biological drives.
- Sexual desire.
- Manifestation of the sexual drive.
In Freudian psychology, the energy associated with the desires that come from the id.