| 释义 |
▪ I. live, a.|laɪv|
[An attributive use of live in on live, alive. Cf. lives in life n. 15.]
1. a. That is in the possession or enjoyment of life; living, as opposed to ‘dead’. live hair, live feathers: hair or feathers pulled from a living animal.
1542Udall Apophth. Erasm. 256 b, A liue doggue, a cocke, an adder and an ape. 1548Udall, etc. Par. Erasm., Mark 19 b, A liue carkas liuyng only to his payne & torment. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 172 The iuyce of it on sleeping eye-lids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote Vpon the next liue creature that it sees. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxiv. §5. 155 It seemed..not against reason to repute them by a courteous construction of law, as liue⁓men. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 215 Hairs..pulled off from a live Hare. 1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1656/4 One who pretends to buy Live Hair to make Periwigs. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables cclxxxvi. 250, I had rather be a Live⁓Begger then a Dead Countess. 1839–41S. Warren Ten Thous. a Yr. II. iv. 99 The only live things visible. 1848Kingsley Saint's Trag. i. i. 126 Shall two hundredweight of hypocrisy bow down to his four-inch wooden saint, and the same weight of honesty not worship his four-foot live one? 1856Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 288, I brought two live plants in flower pots. 1864Browning J. Lee's Wife viii. ii, 'Tis a clay cast..From Hand live once, dead long ago. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. iv. 107 It [i.e. the land] has ‘live chattels and dead chattels’. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 686 The importation of live cattle from countries in which foot-and-mouth disease exists, has been prohibited.
†b. absol. Obs.
1565T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 125 b, A comfort for the liue, and token of their good heart. 1577Fulke Two Treat. agst. Papists ii. 456 One sacrifice for the liue and the deade. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 486 Both the liue and dead should be equally diuided. 1699Bentley Phal. xi. 279 This Gentleman..that can put the Dead and the Live together in Dialogue.
c. Somewhat frequent in jocular use, esp. in ‘a real live ―’ (slang occas. of inanimate things).
1887Fun 26 Oct. XLVI. 175/1 A real live glass milk-jug..given to every lady that buys one pound of our two shilling Bohea. 1890W. A. Wallace Only a Sister 53 Rosemary had taken a great deal of trouble to catch ‘a real live’ philosopher.
d. a live certainty: app. a nonce-phrase, substituted for a dead certainty (see dead a. 18).
1855Thackeray Newcomes II. xlii. 374 Then Mrs. Mackenzie would probably be with them to a live certainty.
2. transf. and fig. in various applications.
a. Of impersonal agencies, conditions, etc.: Full of life or active power; stirring or swarming with living beings; indicating the presence of life; busy, active. (Cf. alive 5, 6.)
1647H. More Song of Soul iii. ii. xxiv, Flush light she sendeth forth, and live Idees. 1853M. Arnold Scholar-Gipsy ii, All the live murmur of a summer's day. 1858Kingsley Parable from Liebig viii. (1878) 251 The world is too live yet for thee. 1878Dowden Stud. Lit., Geo. Eliot ii. 296 Style..so live with breeding imagery.
b. (orig. U.S.). Of persons: Full of energy and alertness; ‘wide-awake’, up-to-date. Of questions, subjects of consideration: Of present interest and importance; not obsolete or exhausted.
1857Knickerbocker L. 456 A neighbouring bath-house, kept by a live Yankee of the name of Martin. 1870Scribner's Monthly I. 71 Quite as likely..the ‘advanced’ preacher selects a ‘live’ subject, a theme for the times. 1877Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly 147, I shall only get live people to write for me. 1877Talmage 50 Serm. 26 In all the world of literature there is no such live book as the Bible. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. cviii. 565 An enterprising man..created a new type of ‘live’ newspaper. 1900Speaker 8 Sept. 618/1 The strenuous effort of the Republicans to resurrect the money question and make it a live issue is becoming ludicrous. 1932E. V. Lucas Reading, Writing & Remembering 45 A varied, learned and very live and amusing book would be the result. 1973Times 26 Apr. 9/8 Bungebah..could be a ‘live’ Imperial Cup prospect one day.
c. Corresponding to actual facts.
1927Carr-Saunders & Jones Survey Social Struct. Eng. & Wales 152 The Unemployment figures were obtained by taking an average of the ‘live registers’ of the employment exchanges in Great Britain. 1931Times Educ. Suppl. 9 May 166/3 The ‘live’ register has, it is true, dropped from 923 to 757, but these figures are now swollen..by the children who left school at the Easter recess.
d. Of a performance, heard or watched at the time of its occurrence, as distinguished from one recorded on film, tape, etc. Also quasi-adv.
1934B.B.C. Year-Bk. 248 Listeners have..complained of the fact that recorded material was too liberally used..but..transmitting hours to the Canadian and Australasian zones are inconvenient for broadcasting ‘live’ material. 1937M. Lowell Listen In 109 People do not like ‘canned’ entertainment when they can obtain ‘live’ entertainment just as easily. 1944Ann. Reg. 1943 348 It was still felt..that attendance at concerts and listening to ‘live’ performances belonged to a better order of things. 1947Penguin Music Mag. ii. 21 The standard of playing..has suffered..because..there was an unprecedented demand for live performances. 1953[see 3-D, 3 D s.v. d III. 3]. 1953E. Smith Guide Eng. Traditions 11 The development of the gramophone and wireless broadcasting..has made many thousands familiar with the great musical composers and anxious to hear ‘live’ performances of their works. 1955Radio Times 22 Apr. 15/2 At the moment, Northern Ireland has no means of originating ‘live’ television programmes. 1958Listener 25 Sept. 463/2 Long experience of the effect of gramophone record sales and broadcasts provides pretty convincing evidence that they have strengthened rather than sapped the general interest of the public in attending live performances. 1970New Scientist 2 July 13/1 We now accept full live coverage of soccer games in Mexico as a matter of course. 1974Daily Tel. 2 May 13/5 Live entertainment is to return to the London Casino,..since 1953 the home of Cinerama. 1974Times 14 Nov. 8/8 The hearing was televised live. 1975Daily Tel. 18 Apr. 13/2 When people spoke ‘live’ or on tape it was often difficult to hear what they were saying.
3. Of combustibles: Flaming, glowing.
1611Bible Isa. vi. 6 Then flew one of the Seraphims vnto mee, hauing a liue-cole in his hand. a1626W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 288 Where is any liue sparke or seede of Grace? 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 34 The scorpion, when hemmed in with live coals..stings himself in the head. 1840–2Geo. Eliot in Academy 20 Jan. (1894) 56/3 Philanthropy, kindled by the live coal of gratitude and devotion to the Author of all things. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid v. 103 Under the spits live embers place.
transf. and fig.1658–9Burton's Diary (1828) III. 278 We come to set up votes that are live quarrels, like York and Lancaster. 1728–46Thomson Spring 964 Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom Shoots less and less the live carnation round. 1873T. W. Higginson Oldport Days 199 There is to-day such a live sparkle on the water, such a luminous freshness on the grass. 1902Blackw. Mag. May 646/1 ‘Dead’ and ‘live’ were terms used in speaking of dull opal that could be made to flash as if alive by the application of water.
4. Containing unexpended energy. Of a shell, a match, etc.: Unkindled, unexploded. Of a rail, wire, etc.: Connected to a source of electrical potential. In a single-phase supply: being the conductor on which the supply voltage is developed (with respect to the neutral). Also ellipt., a live conductor or terminal. Of a cartridge: Containing a bullet, opposed to blank.
1799Naval Chron. I. 440 A quantity of six-inch live shells fired. 1833Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) XI. lxxvii. §6. 506 Live shells were placed along the top of the rampart. 1890Daily News 4 Jan. 6/6 Touching a live electric wire somewhere in the city. 1894Times 29 May 6/6, I have repeatedly found matches about the ground... They were ‘live’ matches. 1897Daily News 10 Mar. 7/4 The accused said, ‘You are a ― fine pal to give me a live cartridge’. 1898Westm. Gaz. 11 July 2/1 The rails are said to be ‘live’ when charged with the electric current. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 856 A person for example may be seriously injured..through an iron tool in his hand by which accidental contact is made with live metal. 1913D. S. Munro Pract. of Electr. Wiring xx. 181 When the neutral wire is itself practically at earth potential there are, of course, increased risks, if the live wire be in contact with its metal cover. 1938J. W. Sims Electr. Installations 148 When the fuse unit is enclosed in an iron case there should be an inch clearance all round any live part. 1966J. F. Whitfield Electr. Install. & Regulations vi. 123 Two-pin sockets and plugs. Live and neutral only are catered for in these units. 1970Which? Aug. 256/2 Britain objected to black for the live, since in Britain it was being used for the neutral. 1973G. A. T. Burdett Householder's Electr. Guide vi. 34 Two-core sheathed flex is now made with the new core colours of brown for the ‘live’ core and blue for the neutral.
5. a. Of a mineral, a rock: Native, unwrought; = L. vivus. b. Of air: In its native state, pure.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 22 Live brimstone, boiled to the thicknesse of Honey. 1778Pennant Tour in Wales II. 307 A well cut in the live rock. 1855Browning Old Pictures in Florence ii, Through the live translucent bath of air. 1855Tennyson Maud i. xiii. 11 His essences turn'd the live air sick. 1875Browning Aristoph. Apol. 1526 The live rock latent under wave and foam.
6. Said of parts of machines or apparatus which either themselves move or impart motion to others. (Cf. dead a. 23.) Applied spec. to an axle.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 325 The dead pulley is fixed to the axis and turns with it, and the other, which slips round it, is called the live pulley. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 74 There is a live sheave for the working top pendant, and a dumb one for the hawser. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Live-axle, one communicating power; in contradistinction to a dead or blind axle. Ibid., Live-head, the head-stock of a lathe, which contains the live-spindle. 1878Lockyer Stargazing 308 Three conical rollers carried by a loose or ‘live’ ring. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 53 The metal rollers are each made to revolve round their own pins, which are secured to a plate, called the live ring. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Live Ring, a circular gang of wheels, as used in the turn-tables of draw-bridges, and in those for locomotives. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 156 [A] Live Spindle..[is] a rotating spindle; applied generally to the rotating mandrel of a lathe. 1903Work XXV. 199/3 The two systems of driving are the live axle and the double sprocket chain. 1904A. B. F. Young Compl. Motorist (ed. 2) iv. 116 The driving of the rear wheels being direct through a powerful chain and live axle. 1929Newton & Steeds Motor Vehicle xxi. 259 A live axle is one that rotates or houses shafts that rotate, while a dead axle is one that does not rotate or house rotating shafts. 1963Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 8 In modern usage ‘live axle transmission’ means the combination of propellor shaft and bevel- or worm-geared live axle—but many chain-driven cars also had live axles of a different sort. 1971Daily Tel. 24 Mar. 11/3 It has a water cooled engine driving the rear wheels and a live rear axle.
7. Of or pertaining to a living being. † live voice: the voice of a living man. (Cf. vivâ voce.)
1613Jackson Creed ii. 367 For the begetting of true and liuely faith, we suppose the liue voice of an ordinary Ministery as the Organe, whereby [etc.]. 1649J. H. Motion to Parl. Adv. Learn. 32 Ineffectuall..if not quickned with some live-voyce and knowing assistance.
8. Acoustics. Of a room or enclosure: having a relatively long reverberation time (opp. dead a. A. 14 b).
1931L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pict. xviii. 266 The music is reproduced in the live end, which would correspond to the stage of an auditorium, and the microscope is placed in the comparatively deader end, which would correspond with the audience position. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 33 The answer might at first sight appear to be to do away with reverberation entirely and try to create entirely ‘dead’ studios... But listening tests indicate that most people prefer a moderately ‘live’ acoustic. 1974Which? Aug. 243/3 In a very live room— one with a lot of hard surfaces that can reflect sound—upper and middle frequencies will stand out more.
9. a. In various collocations and combinations: live action (see quot. 1960); also attrib.; † live anatomy, vivisection (see anatomy 1 b); live-asunder ? nonce-wd., (torn) apart while living (as a limb from the body); live-birth, the fact of a child's being born alive; live-born a., born alive; live-broken a., broken alive; live-cannibalism, the practice of eating the flesh of human victims still living; live fence orig. U.S., a hedge; also live-fencing; live-gang U.S. (see quot.); † live-goods, ? = live-stock; live-hole Brickmaking (see quot.); † live-like a., resembling a living person; live load Engin., a temporary or varying load imposed on a structure by its being put to use (cf. dead load s.v. dead a. A. 29); live matter (see quot.); † live-personal a., made by the person himself; † live-shape, living form; live-steam (see quot.); live-thorn a., constructed of living thorn (cf. quickthorn quick D); live-vat (see quot.); live weight, the weight of an animal before it is slaughtered and prepared as a carcase; also attrib. and as quasi-adv.; † live-wight, a living thing; live wire (see sense 4) orig. U.S., fig. esp. a person full of energy; also (with hyphen) attrib.; live-work (see quot.). Also live-bait, live-oak, live-stock.
1957Manvell & Huntley Technique Film Music iii. 136 A great deal of Hollywood's comedy music is linked with the cartoon world and..a number of techniques associated with the animation studios are increasingly employed during the making of *live-action scenes. 1960O. Skilbeck ABC of Film & T.V. 79 Live action, normal cinematography as opposed to Animation, Titles, etc. 1964Listener 5 Nov. 735/3 There was a very long-drawn-out rescue scene in which live-action and graphics were mingled in a fashionable but not here very convincing way.
a1834Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1836) II. 248 He has by guilt torn himself *live-asunder from nature, and is, there⁓fore, himself in a preter-natural state.
1889Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Live-birth, The aerated condition of the lungs is no proof of *live-birth in the legal sense.
1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl II. iii. 41 The self same house..where they had nine children *live born and christened.
1824Campbell Theodoric Wks. (1837) 55 A wretch *live⁓broken on misfortune's wheel.
1804Ann. Rev. II. 199/1 After these atrocities it would seem trifling to speak..of the *live-cannibalism of Tongataboo.
1804J. Roberts Pennsylvania Farmer 84 When the hedge is full grown, then there is a perfect *live fence. 1858J. A. Warder Hedges & Evergreens i. i. 13 Live-fences, or—as they are commonly called—Hedges, are a means of enclosure that belongs to an advanced state of civilization. 1866Bull's Wellington (N.Z.) Almanack 28 Sow..furze for live fences. 1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! 192 We have done something towards making live-fences. 1958Chambers's Techn. Dict. 991/1 Live fence (Highways), a hedge.
1829Mass. Spy 25 Mar. (Th.), Messrs. G. Th. and Son have imported 75,000 hawthorns, for ‘*live fencing’.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Live-gang, a gang-saw mill, so arranged as to cut through and through the logs without previous slabbing.
1626Jackson Creed viii. xiii. §1 To exercise the like rage upon his person or *live-goods, which did the wrong, could be no satisfaction either to the law, or party wronged.
1836Penny Cycl. V. 408/2 Clamp-bricks are burned in the following manner:—The flues or *live holes—are carried up two courses high through the clamp.
1614Jackson Creed iii. xii. §3 Hauing now met them as *liue-like as they themselues were.
1866*Live load [see factor n. 8]. 1908M. S. Ketchum Design of Highway Bridges ii. 41 The live loads on railway bridges are properly a series of moving concentrated loads. 1918Cowley & Levy Aeronautics viii. 163 When the aeroplane is just smoothing out from a steep dive the angle of attack is suddenly increased and the loading rapidly attains a value which in practice is several times its normal. This [sic] in all essentials a live load is allowed for in the safety factor. 1974Sci. Amer. Feb. 93/1 A building must ordinarily sustain three kinds of force. The first is the ‘dead load’ of the structure itself and its fixed contents; the second is the ‘live load’ of the building's occupants and of such movable components as elevators... The third force is produced by the movement of air.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Live-matter (Printing), type in page or column ready for printing.
1614Jackson Creed iii. xvii. §6 Moses' *live-personal proposal.
1851–61Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 193 Some of the most experienced ‘*live salesmen’ and ‘dead salesmen’.
1626Jackson Creed viii. x. § 1 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, tooke their distinct specificall being, or *live-shape, from the first sinne.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Live-steam, 1. Steam from the boiler at its full pressure; in contradistinction to dead-steam. 2. Steam from the boiler; in contradistinction to exhaust⁓steam. 1889Pall Mall G. 21 Oct. 3/2 The heat is supplied by the waste steam, supplemented if necessary by live steam.
1893Daily News 29 June 5/2 Enclosed with a strong *live-thorn palisade impenetrable to arrows.
1852C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 163 The fresh, or *live vat, is that which has not yet been worked.
1852Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 151 Two hundred lambs..weighing some one hundred pounds..*live weight. 1872Baker Nile Tribut. xv. 261 The live weight of the male would be about five hundred pounds. 1898Trans. Highl. & Agric. Soc. 286 The live-weights of the individual sheep were ascertained three times during the experiment. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 50 More than 3½ lb. of food to make 1 lb. of liveweight gain. 1971Farmers Weekly 19 Mar. 85/1 The cost per pound of gain would exceed the price per pound liveweight received at slaughter. 1972Country Life 30 Nov. 1504/2 These small birds [sc. turkeys]..are killed out..when they achieve liveweights of about 8½ lb.
1657W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 148 All which he possesses, seems to be no lesse common to all learned men, then the Air and Water are to all *Live-wights. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xx. 51 Those Live-wights which have no Lungs, have no bladder.
1903‘H. McHugh’ Back to Woods 12 Bunch went down to the skating pond one day with $18 and picked four *live wires at an average of 8 to 1. 1903Everybody's Mag. IX. 30/1 If you cut ‘Browny’ you cut a live wire and were socially paralyzed. 1909Sat. Even. Post 13 Mar. 24/1 As a legislator..he was probably known to many people as an aggressive ‘comer’ of the live-wire kind. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. v. 110, I sized you up as a live wire the minute I saw you. 1931A. Christie Sittaford Mystery xxiv. 197 He appears to be one of the live wires of this investigation. 1935Auden & Isherwood Dog beneath Skin i. ii. 39 And I'm the live wire of the Evening Moon. 1952J. C. Masterman To teach Senators Wisdom i. 17 He was, if anyone was, the live wire of the Senior Common Room. 1971Daily Tel. 21 Aug. 14/4 The live-wire management here will miss few opportunities given the right political and economic background in which to operate. 1973D. Francis Slay-Ride x. 121 Our Lars was a live wire once himself. Did a lot of motor racing.
1855Cornwall 148 We might distinguish these two kinds of work as dead and *live work—the dead being that which proceeds in the dead rock, and the live that which is concerned in extracting and pulverizing the ores.
b. In the names of various contrivances for holding living objects or for examining them microscopically, as live-box, live-car, live-trap, live-well.
1862Gosse in Pop. Sci. Rev. I. 41 note, Specimens hatched in the same live-box, in the same water, from the same brood, and on the same day. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Live-trap, a device for imprisoning living microscopic objects. It consists of three parallel glass slips; the middle one has a circular perforation forming the cell, while the other ones constitute the sides. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 199 Live-car, full size, for keeping fish alive. 1893Funk's Stand. Dict., Live-well, a well in a fishing-boat for keeping fish alive.
Add:[2.] e. Of a recording, film, etc.: taken from or made at a live performance rather than in a studio.
1947Audio Engin. Dec. 27/2 There are definite advantages to the live performance method of recording. It would be interesting to hear how a wide range live recording might sound. 1959W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinematogr. 107/1 Live recording, a recording of sound made at the same time as it originates. 1977Washington Post 16 Jan. e5/3 His live album, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1974. 1979Marsh & Swenson Rolling Stone Record Guide (1980) 440/2 [B. B.] King's best records..are the live sets, where the electricity of audience/performer interaction spurred King on to elaborate vocal and instrumental histrionics. 1985Sounds 27 July 2/1 The Sex Pistols have another live album coming out next week. 1990Opera Now May 78/2 Live recording or not, muddled enthusiasm cannot rescue the Corale Amerina from some approximate tuning and lack of ensemble.
[4.] b. Of electrical apparatus: switched on and functional; (esp. of a microphone) receptive to sound.
1936P. O. Electr. Engineers' Jrnl. Apr. 10/2 Until the valves in the loudspeaking set have heated up and the set is ‘live’. 1937Printers' Ink Monthly apr. 54/2 Hot mike, a microphone in which the current is flowing. A live microphone. 1984Washington Post 3 July d2/1 In a studio like this, a live microphone propped before them, they must..give precisely timed noises to the movements on film. 1991Electronic Musician Nov. 71/2 Hypercardioid microphones are highly sensitive in front and less sensitive at the sides. This pattern diminishes the potential for feedback in live situations.
▪ II. live, v.1|lɪv|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. lived |lɪvd|. Forms: inf. α. 1 libban, 2–4 li-, lybben, 3 Orm. libbenn. β. 1 lifian, lifiᵹean, lyfan, -ian, leofian, -iᵹean, Northumb. lifiᵹa, 2–4 lifen, livien, 3 Orm. lifenn, 2–4, 6 liven; 3 leofen, leofven, (lioven, luvien), 4–5 lif(f(e, (4 lijf, lyfve, luf(e), 4–6 lyve(n, lyvie, -yn, Sc. leif(f(e, leyff, lyf(f(e, 5 lyf(e, (4–5 liwe, -i, -y, lywe); 2, 4–5 lef(en, 4–5 leven, -yn, (4 levin, loven), 5 lewyn, 5–6 leve, 6–7 Sc. leaf, leiv(e, 4– live. pa. tense 1 lifode, -ade, lifde, 2–5 livede, 4– lived. pa. pple. 1 ᵹelifd, 3–4 y-lyved, i-lyved, (6 liven, lyven), 3– lived.
[A Common Teutonic weak vb.: OE. libban (WS.). lifian, lifᵹan (Anglian and in poetical texts), pa. tense lifode, lifde, corresp. to OFris. libba, liva, leva, OS. libbian, pa. tense pl. libdun (Du. leven), OHG. lebên (MHG., mod.G. leben) to live, ON. lifa to live, remain (Sw. lefva to live, qvar-lefva to remain, Da. leve to live), Goth. liban, pa. tense libaida to live:—OTeut. stem *liƀæ̂-, f. root *lī̆ƀ- (: laiƀ-) to remain, continue, whence life n., q.v. for cognate words.]
1. a. intr. To be alive; to have life (see life 1 b) either as an animal or as a plant; to be capable of vital functions. † to live and look (see look v.).
In this sense the simple present is now arch. or rhetorical; the compound present is living is the usual form.
c825Vesp. Psalter cxiii. 18 We ða ðe lifᵹað we bledsiað dryhten. 971Blickl. Hom. 57 Se lichoma buton mete & drence leofian ne mæᵹ. a1000O.E. Chron. an. 901 (Parker MS.) He wolde oðer oððe þær libban oððe þær licᵹan. c1175Pater Noster in Lamb. Hom. 65 Ure gultes lauerd bon us forȝeuen al swa we doþ alle men þet liuen. c1205Lay. 4668 Ich sugge þe to soðe þat ȝet leoueð þi broðer. a1225Leg. Kath. 2262 Tu schalt libben, & beon leof & wurð me. a1300Cursor M. 17408 Þe lauerd liues yee did on rode. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 17 Þat to þe kyng Egbriht alle were þei gyuen For þer heritage þer to die or lyuen. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 9 Þerfore may na beste ne fewle liffe þare. c1460Towneley Myst. xiv. 95 And, certys, for to lyf or dy I shall not fayll. 15..Interl. 4 Elem. 452, I am for you so necessary Ye can not lyue without me. 1529Rastell Pastyme (1811) 33 He was crownyd lyuing hys fader by pope Johnn. 1587Golding De Mornay v. 51 Now this second Plant liued in the first, ere it liued in itselfe, and al liuing wights do liue, moue, and feele..afore they come forth. 1611Bible Gen. xlv. 3 And Ioseph said..Doeth my father yet liue? 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iv. 309 Plants are said by some kind of analogie to live..yet they cannot be said properly to live{ddd}Brutes are said properly to live, because they have a true self-motion. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 198 Those parts may be said to live no longer when the circulation ceases. 1821Shelley Adonais xli, He lives, he wakes—'tis Death is dead, not he. 1838Lytton Leila i. ii, Yonder stream is of an element in which man cannot live nor breathe. 1862J. F. Stephen Def. R. Williams 296 A more eminent or more excellent man hardly ever lived.
b. fig. of things: To exist, be found. poet.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. ii. 79 We are on the earth Where nothing liues but crosses, care and greefe. 1599― Much Ado iii. i. 110 No glory liues behinde the backe of such. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xcv[i]. 11 There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds. 1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxxxvi. 4 In all that bodily largeness, Lives not a grain of salt, breathes not a charm anywhere.
2. a. To supply oneself with food; to feed, subsist. Const. † by, † of, on, upon, † with, rarely † in (either the actual food or the means of providing it). to live on a person: to burden him with one's maintenance. Also in phr. to live off the country (or the land); to obtain sustenance from the produce of the countryside without payment.
971Blickl. Hom. 51 Godes is þæt yrfe þe we biᵹ leofiaþ. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 62 Eft ᵹenim swines scearn þæs þe on dun lande and wyrtum libbe. c1200Ormin 7775 Cullfre ne lifeþþ nohht bi flessh. c1250Gen. & Ex. 573 Foueles waren ðer-inne cumen..And mete quorbi ðei miȝten liuen. a1300Cursor M. 11109 Ion liued wit rotes and wit gress, Wit honi o þe wildernes. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 242 Many..þat wolen make hem self gentel men and han litel or nouȝt to lyue on. 1382― Matt. iv. 4 A man lyueth not in breed aloon. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxii. 217 Tresour to lyue by to here lyues ende. c1440Gesta Rom. lxxxix. 411 (Add. MS.) She..leuyd..many yeres with rotes and grasse, and such Frute as she myght gete. c1470Henry Wallace ix. 288 Leiff on your awin. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss I. ccvii. 244 They coude fynde nothynge to lyue by in the playne countrey. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 92 b, To whom the kyng assigned an honest pencion to live on. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 42 [They] are to be compelled to worke, and not to liue vpon other mens labours. 1601Holland Pliny I. 147 The Agriophagi..liue most of panthers and lions flesh. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 294 They that served at the Altar lived on what was offered. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 20 A person, at all thoughtfull of himself and conscience, had much better chuse to live with nothing but beans and pease-pottage. 1712Steele Spect. No. 264 ⁋2 Irus..spent some Time after with Rakes who had lived upon him. 1747Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 35 For Asthma..live a fortnight on boiled Carrots. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xvi. 5 Wks. 1830 IV. 194 The spider lives upon flies. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour iii. 9 He then lived on his ‘means’ for a while. 1884Century Mag. Feb. 503/1 In his marches he had been obliged to live, to a great extent, off the country. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 84 Sometimes they were..living upon their friends. 1913H. Footner Jack Chanty 68 The Indians..live off the land during the summer. 1934Discovery Mar. 63/1 It is possible to ‘live off the land’ to an extent never dreamed of by earlier explorers. 1949Milwaukie (Oregon) Rev. 4 Aug. 1/4 The main cause for the Communist army success was the fact that it was well fed, living off the country as it marched through China. 1966Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Jan. 25/3 Eskimos in the area [Boothia Peninsula] live off the land.
b. fig.
971Blickl. Hom. 57 Þa gastlican lare..þe ure saul biᵹ leofaþ. c1375Cursor M. 15614 (Fairf.), I warne ȝou to..liue a-pon his lare. 1754J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 246 They..agreed..to live on Letters, till the painful age should be lapsed which held them apart. 1844A. B. Welby Poems (1867) 49 To live untill this tender heart On which it lives is dead.
3. a. To procure oneself the means of subsistence. Const. by, † of, on or upon, † with. Also, to live from hand to mouth. to live by one's wits: see wit.
c900tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. iv. (Schipper) 371 [Hi] be heora aᵹenum handᵹewinne lifiᵹeaþ. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 964 Þe scottes sede þat þet lond noȝt inou be To hom bothe to libbe by as hii miȝte ise. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 272 A feloun was sauid Þat hadde lyued al his lyf with lesinges & þeftis. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 311 He made his douȝtres use hem to wolle craft..þey schulde ȝif hem nedede lyve by þe craft. c1440Jacob's Well 160 Comoun womman, þat leuyth by here body. c1450ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 210 Item, þe galle of euery fowl, þat lyueþ by raueyne doþ þe same. 1484Caxton Fables of Alfonce iii, [He] lyued by the laboure of his handes pourely. 1530Palsgr. 612/2 Thou lyvest of nothyng but of pollyng. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 174 b, Men..had lived by the kynges wages, more then a few yeres. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. iii. 1291 A dunce I see is a neighbourlike brute beast, a man may liue by him. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xix. 178 They lived of fishing at sea, and of seeds. 1628Earle Microcosm., Surgeon (Arb.) 62 His gaines are very ill got, for he liues by the hurts of the Common-wealth. 1675Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 295 God left man..to live..by his own industry. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 24. 161 A whimsical Fellow..liv'd upon setting Stones in Wrist-Buttons. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 428 Every one..must live by his trade. 1865Kingsley Herew. Prel., Why should he reverence Nature? Let him use her and live by her. 1887Jessopp Arcady i. 11 Those luxuries which the big man consumes..the small man lives by.
b. Proverb. live and let live; also attrib.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 229 According to the Dutch Prouerbe..Leuen ende laeten leuen, To liue and to let others liue. 1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 43 And what's the Whole Bus'ness at last; but Live, and let Live. 1885W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 136 Two or three people are of no use, and are kept-on on the live-and-let-live principle. 1928Blunden Undertones of War xv. 161 Our future..depended on the observance of the ‘Live and Let Live’ principle. 1936‘R. West’ Thinking Reed xii. 418 Servants..haven't the live-and-let-live of equals. 1957L. F. R. Williams State of Israel 217 The belief that he was on the point of reaching some kind of live-and-let-live understanding with Israel. 1959Films & Filming May 22/3 Father, in spite of the live-and-let-live attitude of his brother, persecutes the elderly Dr. Boris Winkler. 1972J. Brown Chancer iii. 46 What's got into you, love?.. I thought you were always one for live and let live. 1975J. Aiken Voices in Empty House vi. 161 It takes all sorts, as I always say. Live and let live.
4. To pass life in a specified fashion, indicated by an adv. or advb. phrase (occas. an adj. or compl. n.) having reference
a. to the manner of regulation of conduct, esp. in a moral aspect.
c900tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xxvii. (Schipper) 61 Hu hie mid heora ᵹeferum drohtian & lifiᵹean [MS. B. lifian] scylan? c1200Ormin 372 And ȝuw maȝȝ ben þiss ilke word God lare hu ȝuw birrþ libbenn. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4025 Hit is ney vif ȝer þat we abbeþ yliued in such vice. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 581 Þaȝ þou a sotte lyuie,..by-þenk þe symtyme. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 288 Leden clanliche our lif & libben as simple. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xiv. (Lucas) 32 How þai liffyt her but blame. 1426Audelay Poems 2 He that levys here ryȝtwysly. 1472Presentm. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1890) 24 Thomas Dransfeld..now liffez as a vacabond. 1538Starkey England i. i. 9 Wych tyme he lyuyd more vertusely. 1609Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Robt. II 39 Ilk ane of them sall leaue leallie and trewlie in their office. 1657–83Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. 174 They live like goats, and die like asses. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 63 Living on this wise, we..shall pass our days in good hope.
b. to personal conditions, e.g. degree of happiness, comfort, splendour, repute, or the contrary. † to live away: to lead a life of extravagance. to live in clover (see clover n. 3). to live dangerously: to take risks habitually; to live with little regard for one's safety. to live fast (see fast adv. 7).
Beowulf (Z.) 99 Swa ða driht-guman dreamum lifdon eadiᵹlice. c1200Ormin 5207 Þær he shollde libbenn Wiþþ resste and ro. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 535 (MS. a) Þer abbeþ kinges & mani oþere ofte ilyued in ioie. a1300Cursor M. 11132 To speke of nedes of þair huse Als dos þe men þat liues in spus. c1350Will. Palerne 1588 Þus þei left in likyng a god while after. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 228 He levys at ess that frely levys! c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (St. Andrew) 944 To luf in contemplacione. c1400Destr. Troy 9760 And fele..fre kynges frusshet to dethe, Þat might haue leuyt as lordes in þere lond yet. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop i. xii, Better worthe is to lyue in pouerte surely then to lyue rychely beyng euer in daunger. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 364 To suffer everie man to leaf at libertie of conscience. 1611Bible Acts xxiv. 5 After the most straitest sect of our religion, I liued a Pharisee. 1643Trapp Comm., Gen. xxi. 15 Who erst lived at the full in his fathers house. 1703Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. 181 He that would have his health hold out must not live too fast. 1719J. T. Phillips tr. Thirty-four Confer. 316 The Inhabitants live very easie and happily in all these Four Provinces. 1767H. Kelly Babler No. iii. II. 218 Possessed of such a handsome sum, I considered it as nothing more than a proper compliment to my wife, to live away for some time, and therefore set up a smart post-chaise. 1807E. S. Barrett Rising Sun II. 80 He set up for an esquire himself, lived away at a most extravagant rate, and neglected his business. 1810S. Green Reformist I. 34 Old Mr. Ellingford, though he lived close, known to be immensely rich. 1836W. E. Forster in T. W. Reid Life (1888) I. iii. 79 My parents are as poor as rats..and consequently we live in quite a small way. 1859G. Meredith Juggling Jerry x, I..have lived no gipsy. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i. (1889) 4 They lived very much to them⁓selves, and scarcely interfered with the dominant party. [1910T. Common tr. Nietzsche's Joyful Wisdom 219 The greatest enjoyment of existence is to live in danger!] 1930A. Henderson Contemporary Immortals 78 The numerous attempts at assassination give point to Mussolini's avowed motto, after Nietzsche: ‘To live dangerously!’ 1938L. MacNeice I crossed Minch vii. 93 The young people lack spirit... If only they would appreciate ‘living dangerously’! 1939F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 7 Oct. (1964) 407, I have ‘lived dangerously’ and I may quite possibly have to pay for it. 1962Listener 9 Aug. 226/1 The spectators in the Bridgearama theatre saw the British pair..living dangerously. 1969Outdoor Life Mar. 88/2 To fish the stream when the water is running full pipe is to live dangerously.
c. to the rule or guiding principle, or to the object and purpose of one's life.
971Blickl. Hom. 35 We ealne þysne ᵹear lifdon mid ures lichoman willan. a1225Juliana 75 Lusteð writen lare and luuieð þrefter. a1240Ureisun in Lamb. Hom. 189 Þi deaþ..do me liuien to þe. a1300Cursor M. 16424 We [MS. He] haf vr lagh,..þat we liue wit al in land. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 281 Socrates seide þat meny men wil leve forto ete and drynke. 1533Gau Richt Vay 20 Ane man lwffis notht god ower al thyng..na liffis notht efter his halie wil. 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates iii. Wks. 1888 I. 23 Giue euerie man mycht leue according to his vocation. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 126 Euery man liue for himselfe. 1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 167/1 Maligned by those who lived after Tyrannical institutions. a1716Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 3 Rules..such as all that call themselves Christ's Disciples are oblig'd to observe and live by. 1840Carlyle Heroes i. 5 It is not easy to understand that sane men could ever..live by such a set of doctrines. 1858–65― Fredk. Gt. ii. i. (1872) IV. 24 They saw no society; lived wholly to their work.
d. to live well: (a) to have abundance, to feed luxuriously; (b) to be in comfortable circumstances; (c) to live a virtuous life.
For well to live = ‘well to do’, prosperous, see well adv.
c1350Will. Palerne 5393 Þus was þe kowherd out of kare kindeli holpen,..wel to liuen for euer. 1530Palsgr. 612/2, I shal lyue well ynoughe without you. 1620Shelton Quix. III. xx. 141 He preaches well that lives well, quoth Sancho, and I know no other Preaching. 1796Pegge Anonym. (1809) 64 If you would live well for a week, kill a hog; if you would live well for a month, marry; if you would live well all your life, turn priest. 1807–26S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 68 Carbuncles seem..most common in persons who have lived well.
e. to live in (or within) oneself: to rely upon oneself for occupation and diversion, opposed to living ‘in society’.
a1674Clarendon Tracts 293 They live to and within themselves. 1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 125 Living much within himself..his chief amusement was his collection. 1872J. L. Sanford Eng. Kings, Chas. I, 333 His mind had been prepared for the application of these lessons by that early necessity of living very much in himself.
f. With up. † (a) to live up: fig. to live on a high level; to take a high intellectual or moral position. (b) to live up to: to act in full accordance with (principles, rules, etc.). Also, to push expenditure to the full limits of (one's fortune). (c) to live it up: to live gaily and extravagantly.
1682Dryden Relig. Laici 209 Those who followed Reason's dictates right, Lived up, and lifted high their natural light. 1694Atterbury Serm. & Disc. (1726) I. 72 The Rule is strict indeed; but..there are Great Helps..enabling us to live up to it. 1709Steele Tatler No. 125 ⁋1 All those who do not live up to the Principles of Reason and Virtue. 1711Addison Spect. No. 163 ⁋4, I am one of your Disciples, and endeavour to live up to your Rules. 1832J. S. Knowles Hunchback i. i. 9 Your fortune..is ample; And doubtless you live up to't. 1837G. E. Corrie 17 Sept. in Mem. iv. (1890) 90, I had an interesting conversation with the Squire on the duty of living up to one's convictions. 1951San Francisco Examiner 14 Feb. 12 Lieutenant Thumhill is really livin' it up! 1957P. Frank Seven Days to Never vii. 200 They come to Havanna to live it up. They live about two years in two days. 1959H. Hobson Mission House Murder iii. 24 Off-key characters who live it up like crazy. 1961C. McCullers Clock without Hands xiii. 249 Nobody lives for always, but when I live I like to live it up. 1970N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon ii. 39 Those who lived it up in the cocktail lounges that night were also emotionally moved. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon xiv. 203 We certainly had little chance of living it up on our Daily Telegraph expense accounts.
5. a. quasi-trans. with cognate obj. = 4. spec. to live one's own life: to follow one's own plans or principles; to live independently.
c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 476/16 Se cyning Eglippus leofode his lif on eawfæstre drohtnunge. c1175Lamb. Hom. 115 He scal..for godes eie libban his lif rihtliche. a1300–1400Cursor M. 10175 (Gött.) Sua haly lijf þai liued euer. c1380Sir Ferumb. 686 Þou hast y-lyued þy lif to longe to do me such a spyte. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 171 How prestis schulde lyfue [printed lyfne] a pore lif. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 40 What lyfe he lyffyd þe treuth ys tald. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 15 b, They that lyueth the holy lyfe of religyon. 1567Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 72 We suld..Leif in the warld a lyfe perfyte. 1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido iv. iii. E 3, This is no life for men at armes to liue. 1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. 35 To live the life of the spirit. 1712Addison Spect. No. 530 ⁋4 It shall be my business hereafter to live the life of an honest man. 1853M. Arnold Scholar-Gipsy xvii, And each half lives a hundred different lives. 1853C. Brontë Villette I. xiii. 229 Thinking meantime my own thoughts, living my own life in my own still, shadow-world. 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 9 Montaigne,—content to live his life, leaving many questions open. 1893O. Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan ii. 56 There are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life..or dragging out some false..existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands. 1895Zangwill Master i. vii. 74 The panorama seemed more varied than when he was living the scenes in all their daily detail of dull routine. 1921R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages iii. 52 Now I must Live my own Life, as the Victorians used to put it. 1933‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune iv. ii. 221 All Jane's set, with their ceaseless chatter about..living their own lives,..had that macabre, sullen look.
b. transf. in Hunting. To keep up (the pace). Also absol. in phr. to live with hounds.
1840Fraser's Mag. XXII. 681 We whip and spur, but cannot live the pace. 1898St. James's Gaz. 15 Nov. 6/1 The check..was most welcome to the contingent who still lived with hounds.
6. quasi-trans. to live down:
†a. To defeat by superiority of life (nonce-use).
b. To put down, silence, wear out (prejudice, slander, etc.); to cause (some discreditable incident) to be forgotten by a blameless course of life.
c. To lose hold of, forget (a fancy) as life goes on.
a1731Atterbury (J.), A late prelate, of a remarkable zeal for the church, were religions to be tried by lives, would have lived down the pope, and the whole consistory. 1842Miall in Nonconf. II. 1 It has lived down prejudice. 1884Rider Haggard Dawn xxix, It is very probable that your cousin will live down his fancy. 1893Gunter Miss Dividends 158 How long do you think it will take in New York society for a girl with sixty thousand dollars a year to live anything down?
7. trans. To express in one's life; to carry out in one's life the principles of.
1542Becon Potation for Lent L vj b, Not only loue but also lyue y⊇ Gospel. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. ix. 81 Our Minister lives Sermons. 1650Trapp Comm. Lev. xix. 37 Words not so much to bee read as lived. 1671J. Flavel Fount. of Life ix. 26 He preached the Doctrine, and Lived the Application. a1708Beveridge Thes. Theol. (1711) III. 147 Hereby you may be sure to live heaven upon earth in time. a1770Jortin Serm. (1771) IV. i. 3 To say who is the Lord..is to deny God..and live a lie. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 70 To live poetry, indeed, is always better than to write it.
8. a. intr. In an emphatic sense: To have life that is worthy of the name; to enjoy or use one's life abundantly.
1606Day Ile of Guls H iv b, They trewly liue, that liue in scorne of spight. a1628Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 194 One man may live more in a day than another in twenty. 1673Shadwell Epsom Wells ii. i. 19, I have vow'd to spend all my life in London... People do really live no where else. 1726–31Tindal Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1743) II. xvii. 129 Well might I breathe but never think I lived. 1759Johnson Rasselas xxix, While you are making the choice of life, you forget to live. 1827Keble Chr. Y. Ascension Day x, Our wasted frames feel the true sun, and live. 1851Thackeray Eng. Hum. v. (1858) 268 He was living up to the last days of his life. 1889‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms (1890) 317 Jack Dawson..didn't care about anything but horses and dogs, and lived every day of his life.
b. where one lives; at or to the right or vital point. U.S. slang.
1860J. G. Holland Miss Gilbert's Career xxii. 386 When that little wife of mine says, ‘Tom you're a good fellow, God bless you,’ it goes right in where I live. 1878J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxxvi. 597 The Mormons never got a cent of it. This hurt Brigham—right where he lived. 1886Century Mag. Feb. 511/1 If I could only have reached him where he lives, as our slang says. 1900‘Flynt’ & ‘Walton’ Powers that Prey 122 ‘Sock it to him!’ ‘Hit him where he lives!’
9. a. To continue in life; to be alive for a longer or shorter period; to have one's life prolonged. Also in phrases to live to (be or do so and so); Long live (formerly simply live) the king!; to live and learn: a catch-phr. used, freq. on the acquisition of some new knowledge, to indicate that one learns through experience; I'll (or he'll, etc.) live: there is no need for serious worry or concern (freq. used in a trivial way).
831Charter in O.E. Texts 445 Gib eadwald leng lifiᵹe ðonne cyneðryð, ᵹeselle [etc.]. 1154O.E. Chron. an. 1137 (Laud MS.) Ȝif he leng moste liuen. a1175Cott. Hom. 225 He lefede nigon hundred ȝiere and xxxti. c1205Lay. 252 Ah lut ȝer he leouede. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7823 He..bihet, ȝif he moste libbe, þat he nolde misdo nammore. a1300Cursor M. 2082 Noe..Liued fourti ȝere after þe flod. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 16, I schal leue hem lyflode..As longe as I liue. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 94 If þei ben not curid, þei lyuen þe lengere tyme. c1420Anturs of Arth. 259 (Douce MS.) Þou shal leve but a stert. c1450ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 138 Wheþer he shal lyuen or dye of þe seeknesse. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 130 b, Criyng: sainct Denise, live kyng Charles. 1586in Hearne R. Glouc. (1724) 675/2, I am so unhappy to haue lyuen to see this unhappy daye. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 114 Hath Cassius liu'd To be but Mirth and Laughter to his Brutus? 1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 7 Not suffring a Tree to liue the tenth part of his age. c1620in Roxburghe Ballads (Ballad Soc.) (1871) I. 60 A man may liue and learne. 1653Walton Angler 153 Harme him [a frog] as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer. 1699R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1725) 210 If I live to come back again. 1718Prior Solomon Pref., And in this kind Mr. Philips, had he lived, would have excelled. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 34 If he lives, I will carry him a Prisoner to the Commodore. 1776Trial of Nundocomar 32/2, I should not have supposed he could live many hours. 1782Cowper Gilpin 253 Now let us sing, Long live the king! And Gilpin, long live he! 1803M. Wilmot Let. 6 Aug. in Russ. Jrnls. (1934) i. 32 Humph! thinks I. One must live and learn. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 270 To the use of A. for 99 years, if he should so long live. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxiv, Live and learn Mr. Bevan! 1849Dickens Dav. Copp. (1850) xx. 208 Live and learn. I had my doubts, I confess, but now they're cleared up. 1893Academy 13 May 412/1 Lord Carnarvon did not live to put the final touches to his translation. 1956J. Symons Paper Chase xi. 88 ‘Are you hurt?’ ‘I shall live.’ 1957A. Huxley Let. 12 Dec. (1969) 836 Problems which I have been trying to solve for the last four months, without any success; for they are, so far as I can see, insoluble. So there we are. One lives and learns. 1963N. Freeling Gun before Butter iii. 145 ‘Potato salad..doesn't sound much fun.’ ‘I'll live.’ 1967O. Hesky Time for Treason xviii. 146 ‘Better, darling?’ Miller asked Miriam anxiously... ‘Yes, she'll live,’ Tami said sourly. 1971M. McCarthy Birds of America 111 Well, live and learn! 1972‘R. Crawford’ Whip Hand i. vi. 34 The doctor asked him how he felt. ‘I'll live.’
fig.1813R. Thornton 16 June in Hansard Parl. Debates XXVI. 685 A great statesman..had once exclaimed, ‘Perish commerce—live the constitution!’
b. with † forth, on, † over.
c1200Ormin 17213 Acc ȝiff þatt he þatt fullhtnedd iss Her lifeþþ forþ onn erþe. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 141 Alfridus forsoþe after his blyndynge sent unto Hely liffed over but fewe dayes. c1400Destr. Troy 13105 Made was this mariage þo mighty betwene,..And [they] lyuet furth in Lykyng a long tyme after. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. ii. iii. 155 Shall I liue on, to see this Bastard kneele, And call me Father? 1866M. Arnold Thyrsis iii, While the tree lived, he in these fields lived on. 1896M. Field Attila i. 20, I would rather drop down dead Than live on like my cousin.
c. said of the Deity and of spirits.
971Blickl. Hom. 131 Þurh Godes fultum, þe lyfað & rixað a butan ende. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 23 And alle men shullen cume to libben echeliche. a1225Leg. Kath. 1771 Þer as me liueð aa in blisse buten euch bale. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 77, I wold wot what it may the avayle To forsakyn the goddys wych leuyn ay. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. vii. 345 The Indians of Peru beleeved commonly that the Soules lived after this life.
d. To escape spiritual death.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xvi. (Magdalena) 15 Þe ded of synful I na wil bot þat he leife his syn & lif. 1435Misyn Fire of Love ii. xi. (1896) 99 Lern..to lufe þi makar, if þou desyre to lyfe qwhen þou hens passys. 1508Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. li. Wks. (1876) 103, I wyll not the deth of a synner, but that he be tourned from his wycked lyfe and leue. 1611Bible Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
e. fig. (poet. and rhetorical). Of things: To survive, continue in operation.
1768Gray Elegy 92 E'en in our Ashes live their wonted Fires. 1863Woolner My Beautiful Lady 38 Nothing lives but perfect Love. 1895Merriman Sowers i, What little daylight there was lived on the western horizon. 1896Athenæum 24 Apr. 547/2 Blunders of this sort live long.
f. quasi-trans. to live out: to complete (a term of life); also to survive the end of (a period of time). Also dial. to survive (a person): see Eng. Dial. Dict.
1535Coverdale Ps. lv. 23 The bloudthurstie and disceatfull shal not lyue out half their daies. 1899G. Boothby Dr. Nikola's Experim. ii. 55 He was as certain as any one possibly could be that the chap could not live out the week. Mod. I never thought he would live out the night. (Recent Dicts. give ‘to live out a war, a term of office, a century’.)
10. Chiefly of a vessel: To escape destruction; to remain afloat. Also quasi-trans. of persons. to live out (a storm): to escape destruction by.
1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. ii. 14, I saw your brother..binde himselfe..To a strong Maste, that liu'd vpon the sea. 1615A. Stafford Heav. Dogge To Rdr. 17 There are Coltes who will venture to row in waters wherein (to use the sea⁓faring phrase) they cannot liue. 1671Narborough in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 190 It was impossible for the Boat to live any longer in that Sea. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xvi. (1840) 289 The savages in the boat never could live out the storm. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §142 Carrying out the King's Mooring Barges so far to sea, where they could not live but in fine weather. 1838P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 145 A ferocious hurricane..so that nothing could ‘live’ afloat. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 15, I have seen a boat live in as bad a night as this.
11. To continue in the memory of men; to be permanently commemorated; to escape obliteration or oblivion.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxix. xi, From out the booke [let the wicked] be crossed, Where the good men live engrossed. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. ii. 45 Mens euill manners, liue in Brasse, their Vertues We write in Water. 1638F. Junius Paint. Ancients 56 Let..the temples be graced with such sights; worke them out in ivorie; let them live in colours. 1688Prior To Countess Exeter 13 Eliza's glory lives in Spenser's song. 1718― Solomon iii. 264 A fancied kind of being to retrieve, And in a book, or from a building live. a1748Watts (J.), That which strikes the eye Lives long upon the mind. 1800–24Campbell Hallowed Ground vi, To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 131 One noble passage still lives, and is repeated by thousands who know not whence it comes. a1873Macready Remin. (1875) I. 94 Cooke's representation of the part..lived in my memory in all its sturdy vigour. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. viii. 21 So would he..give me those kind looks which live in me.
12. a. To make one's abode; to dwell, reside; transf., to have its place. Also with † forth. to live in: to reside in the establishment; opposed to to live out. to live out (U.S. colloq.): to be in domestic service. to live together spec., to cohabit.
c1205Lay. 6235 We wulleð..þe leofuen wið a to ure liue. c1220Bestiary 518 Ðis fis wuneð wið ðe se grund, and liueð ðer eure heil and sund. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 438 For-þi lyue we forth with lither men. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas viii. i. (1554) 178 Decius..liued in deserte ferre out in wildernes. c1450Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 249 That haiit lywith in Lowthe many longe days. 1508Dunbar Poems vii. 30 Welcum, therfor, abufe all livand leyd, Withe us to liue, and to maik recidence. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 266 He is not where he liues, but wher he loues. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 72 Here liued I, but now liue here no more. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. iv. §2 It was their office to teach the people, and therefore it was necessary they should live among them. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xiv. 283 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, though he live next dore to a graceless nobleman. 1711Steele Spect. No. 49 ⁋4 The Coffee-house is the Place of Rendezvous to all that live near it. 1731Gentl. Mag. I. 391/1 Bluster..has liv'd in the Country ever since. 1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. III. xv. 266, I..am only concerned that their living together before the marriage took place, should be so generally known. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 49 The family, with whom she lived servant. 1855Mrs. Terhune Hidden Path vii. 63 She has never lived out before. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 80 Melesias and I live together, and our two sons live with us. 1879Trollope John Caldigate III. viii. 106 They had not become man and wife... They had lived together. 1890J. Watson Nature & Woodcraft vi. 71 The farm servants of Cumbria ‘live in’. 1891Daily News 14 July 7/3 It was admitted that they lived together. 1895Law Times C. 133/2 The deceased lived in a cottage near the up side of the railway line. 1896C. Booth Life & Labour Lond. VII. 217 The majority of grocers' assistants still live in. Ibid. 218 Men..who live out not unfrequently help them⁓selves to food. a1916H. James Sense of Past (1917) iv. iii. 242 A pot of about the size..of that one..with something or other on the cabinet or wherever, the place where it ‘lives’, as we say, rather branching out on either side of it. 1919R. Fry Let. 6 Oct. (1972) II. 457, I don't think they're married; they've lived together for twelve years. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. vi. 426 I should like to know how she knew I'd been at her diary. I put it back where it lives. 1953A. Upfield Murder must Wait v. 45 The nurse girl..didn't live in... She came every day. 1958J. Cannan And be a Villain i. 37, I couldn't find any brandy. Do you know where it lives? 1961N. Streatfeild Silent Speaker iv. 61 Mrs. Simpson had led Olivia into the little room where the vases lived. 1963M. McCarthy Group ii. 42 She and Dick had ‘lived together’ on quite a different basis. 1971Woman's Own 27 Mar. 21/3 One advantage of the permissive society is that it's all right to live together before marriage. 1971Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 2/8 The development is designed..to provide extra accommodation for undergraduates to enable all 400 to ‘live in’.
fig.a1340Hampole Psalter xvii. 50 Lord lifes in my hert. 1857Pusey Real Presence i. (1896) 4 The Fathers, among whom, for these last twenty years, I have lived, as in my home.
b. to live in (a room, etc.): to occupy, inhabit; to treat as one's ordinary abode. In quots. in indirect passive.
1885Mrs. C. Praed Head Station I. 3 The veranda was more lived in than the sitting-room. 1895Pall Mall Mag. Mar. 407 The drawing-room looked more lived-in than ever. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 103/1 Mr. Ritman has a knack for making his sets look lived in.
13. to live with:
a. To live with as if husband and wife; to cohabit with (cohabit v. 2).
1749J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure II1 36. I had now liv'd with Mr. Norbet near a quarter of a year. 1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. III. viii. 147 She was more alive to the disgrace, which the want of new clothes must reflect on her daughter's nuptials, than to any sense of shame at her eloping and living with Wickham, a fortnight before they took place. 1854Geo. Eliot Let. 23 Oct. (1954) II. 179 If you hear of anything that I have said..in relation to Mr. Lewes beyond the simple fact that I am attached to him and that I am living with him,..believe that it is false. 1871[see allow v. 7]. 1879Trollope John Caldigate II. iii. 33 Did she ever live with you?.. As your wife? 1923D. H. Lawrence Stud. Classic Amer. Lit. vii. 123 Do you imagine Adam had never lived with Eve before that apple episode? 1928E. Wallace Flying Squad xvi. 159 People are under the impression that you're living with me. 1963M. McCarthy Group i. 11 The knowledge..of Kay's having ‘lived with’ Harald filled them with a sudden sense of the unsanctioned. 1972M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha 31 ‘Virgil asked me to live with him two months ago,’ I stated.
b. fig. To put up with; to come to terms with. colloq.
1937T. S. Eliot in B. Dobrée From Anne to Victoria xliii. 603 Were one a person who liked to have busts about, a bust of Scott would be something one could live with. 1941F. D. Roosevelt Let. 1 July in H. L. Ickes Secret Diary (1955) III. 567 Both of these are elements that we have to live with whether we like it or not. 1961Listener 2 Nov. 694/2 We know that, on account of the balance of military power, we have got to live with it [sc. Communism]. 1964‘W. Haggard’ Antagonists ii. 16 That was awkward, but the experienced Mr Palliser could live with it. 1965Ottawa Jrnl. 29 Apr. 25/3 Canada is so bound by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that in effect it would have to live with its big auto deficit with the U.S. if there were no U.S.-Canada agreement. 1973J. Porter It's Murder with Dover vi. 56 Gary was illegitimate... Not that I ever made any secret about it. It was something Gary had to learn to live with.
c. to live with oneself: to retain one's self-respect.
1962P. Gregory Like Tigress at Bay xiv. 143 Would he be able to live with himself, later? 1971‘J. J. Marric’ Gideon's Art xi. 98, I think he'll find it difficult to live with himself if he's taken off [the job]. 1973R. Perry Ticket to Ride ii. 32 The note of hysteria in her voice stopped me dead. The sensible thing to do would have been to continue on my way but if I did I knew I'd find it awfully difficult to live with myself.
14. Comb. In names of plants: live (for) ever, (a) = live-long 1 and 2; (b) Everlasting Flower, Helichrysum. live in idleness (= love-in-idleness), a name for the Heartsease or Pansy.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. cxcv. 517 It..may be kept.. by the space of a whole yeere..wherefore our English women haue called it Liue long, or Liue for euer. Ibid. ii. ccxcix. 705 Called..in English..Pansies, Liue in Idlenes. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Hearts-ease,..an Herb called..Live in Idleness,..or Pansies. 1715Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 355 Round Saddle-leaved Cape Live⁓ever. Elichrysum Capense. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Live-ever, Sedum. 1763J. Wheeler Bot. & Gardener's Dict., Liveever, Crassula. 1866Treas. Bot., Livelong or Live-for-ever, Sedum Telephium. 1884Burroughs Fresh Fields viii. (1895) 171, I did not catch a glimpse of..elecampane, live-for-ever, bladder campion, and others, of which I see acres at home.
▪ III. † live, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. live, life n. Cf. liven v.]
trans. To give life to; to quicken, vivify.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxviii. 73 This soule sensitif whiche euery beest beryth in his blood lyueth or quycketh the body to which he is conioyned.
▪ IV. live
variant of leve v.2 Obs. |