Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having life; alive: synonym: living.
- adjective Of, related to, or occurring during the life of one that is living.
- adjective Of current interest or relevance.
- adjective Informal Full of life, excitement, or activity; lively.
- adjective Glowing; burning.
- adjective Not yet exploded but capable of being fired.
- adjective Electricity Carrying an electric current or energized with electricity.
- adjective Not mined or quarried; in the natural state.
- adjective Broadcast while actually being performed; not taped, filmed, or recorded.
- adjective Involving performers or spectators who are physically present.
- adjective Of, relating to, or containing living bacteria or active viruses, sometimes in an attenuated form.
- adjective Printing Not yet set into type.
- adjective Sports In play.
- adverb At, during, or from the time of actual occurrence or performance.
- intransitive verb To be alive; exist.
- intransitive verb To continue to be alive.
- intransitive verb To support oneself; subsist.
- intransitive verb To reside; dwell.
- intransitive verb To conduct one's life in a particular manner.
- intransitive verb To pursue a positive, satisfying existence; enjoy life.
- intransitive verb To remain in human memory.
- intransitive verb To spend or pass (one's life).
- intransitive verb To go through; experience.
- intransitive verb To practice in one's life.
- idiom (live it up) To engage in festive pleasures or extravagances.
- idiom (live off/on) To enjoy the best of everything; live in comfort or luxury.
- idiom (live up to) To live or act in accordance with.
- idiom (live up to) To prove equal to.
- idiom (live up to) To carry out; fulfill.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In machinery, having motion, as distinguished from
fixed or stationary: as, a live axle. - In electricity, connected directly or indirectly with a source of electric power, whether carrying current or not: said of a circuit.
- Being in life; living; animate; not dead: as, a live animal or plant.
- Lively; animated; alert; energetic; not listless or inert: as, a live preacher; a live book.
- Manifesting life or energy; acting as if with living force; effective; operative; ready for immediate use or work; under pressure, as of steam: as, a live machine; live steam, etc. See phrases below.
- Glowing; vivid: as, a live coal.
- Fresh; not stale or impure.
- Of present use or interest; not effete, obsolete, or out of date; subject to present or prospective need: as, the live topics of the day; live matter (in a printing-office).
- noun A Middle English oblique form of
life , still existing in alive and livelong. - To continue in being; remain or be kept alive; not to die, perish, or be destroyed: said of both animate and inanimate things, corporeal or incorporeal.
- To have life; possess organic vitality; be capable of performing vital functions: said of animals and plants.
- To use or pass life; direct the course of one's life; regulate one's manner of existing: as, to live well or ill, in either a physical or a moral sense.
- Hence, used absolutely To make full use of life or its opportunities; get the greatest advantage or enjoyment from existence.
- To abide; have or make an abiding-place; dwell or reside; have place: as, to live in a town; to live with one's parents.
- To have means of subsistence; receive or procure a maintenance; get a livelihood: as, to live on one's income.
- To feed; subsist; be nourished: with by before the means or method, and on or upon (sometimes
with ) before the material: as, cattle live on grass and grain; to live on the fat of the land.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The more we learn about our own body, that wonderful and beautiful house in which we live, the more we shall see, in what God thus formed from the dust of the ground, to call forth our admiration; but the body of the first man, although fashioned with such perfection in all its parts, did not _live_ until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Twilight and Dawn Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation Caroline Pridham
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She sits _gracefully_; They live _happily_ and _contentedly_; we employ the verbs _sleeps, sits_, and _live_, in an active sense.
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Samuel Kirkham
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Their names will forever live on the lips of the people -- Their names will, on the lips of the people, forever live_.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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We may say, for example, _I live, I am living_, or _I do live_.
Latin for Beginners Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge 1900
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If I can live and save money at it, you ought to be smart enough to _live_.
Michael O'Halloran Gene Stratton-Porter 1893
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Those who live in cities, and who are always realizing self, and thinking how they think, and are while awake given up to introverting vanity, never _live_ in song.
The Gypsies Charles Godfrey Leland 1863
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Men live by the primal energies of love, faith, imagination; and happily it is not given to every one to _live_, in the pecuniary sense, by the artistic utilisation and sale of these.
Dreamthorp A Book of Essays Written in the Country Alexander Smith 1848
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The first passage refers to a _partial_ resurrection, inasmuch as it makes mention of those only who shall hear the voice of the Son of {37} God, and hearing shall live; whereas the other passage asserts that _all_ who are in sepulchres (_mnêmeiois_) shall hear his voice, and divides these into two classes -- those that have done good, who rise to _live_
An Essay on the Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality James Challis 1842
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If I live, sir, she will have to become the wife of Rivers; and, though I love her as my own -- as I have never loved my own -- yet she must abide the sacrifice from which, _while I live_, there is no escape.
Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia William Gilmore Simms 1838
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She died; the censors heard the tale; and scoffed at the teller of it! and that Cornelius yet sits in the senate; those censors who approved his guilt yet live — I say _live_!
The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) Henry William Herbert 1832
vanishedone commented on the word live
Also a really vital verb.
November 29, 2007
ishy commented on the word live
She lives! > Live bait.
Pronunciation.
February 18, 2010
Louises commented on the word live
'You live', he sent me. 'there's no God and that's his only Commandment'. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.
April 1, 2012