When used to mean "someone who loves ladies", rather than a female lover.
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2The Ngram demonstrates that the non-hyphenated variety is in more common use.– Nigel JCommented Mar 17, 2018 at 16:17
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@Nigel The Ngram doesn't distinguish usages.– Edwin AshworthCommented Mar 17, 2018 at 16:27
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@EdwinAshworth That thought also occurred to me, but when I considered the alternatives, they were so unlikely that I felt they would not be significant data. Point taken, though.– Nigel JCommented Mar 17, 2018 at 16:31
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I can see why you feel the need to rule out the attributive usage, which would default to 'a lover who is a lady'. Hyphenation is the standard way to disambiguate hereabouts (a sweet-shop girl vs a sweet shop-girl). But I'd be tempted to rephrase here; neither string is really a standard compound / collocation, and there is a slang sense for 'lady lover'.– Edwin AshworthCommented Mar 17, 2018 at 16:35
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There are expressions available which are more idiomatic.– Nigel JCommented Mar 17, 2018 at 16:53
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