live
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: lĭv
ipa: /lɪv/
rhymes: -ɪv
Forms: form: lives
form: living
form: lived
form: lived
Etymology: From Middle English lyven, libben, from Old English lifian, libban (“to live; be alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *libbjan, from Proto-Germanic *libjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, cling, linger”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian líeuwje (“to live”), West Frisian libje (“to live”), Dutch leven (“to live”), German Low German leven, lęven (“to live”), German leben (“to live”), Swedish leva (“to live”), Icelandic lifa (“to live”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban, “to live”).
Senses: examples: text: He's not expected to live for more than a few months.
glosses: To be alive; to have life.
examples: text: I live at 2a Acacia Avenue.  At that time I'd been living in a camper for about six months.
text: Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
text: It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
synonyms: range
glosses: To have permanent residence somewhere, to inhabit, to reside.
examples: text: I washed your gravy boat. Where does it live?
synonyms: range
glosses: To have permanent residence somewhere, to inhabit, to reside.
(of an object) to have its proper place; to normally be stored.
examples: text: When Lazarus left his charnel-cave,
⁠And home to Mary’s house return’d, […]
‘Where wert thou, brother, those four days?’
⁠There lives no record of reply,
⁠Which telling what it is to die
Had surely added praise to praise.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 50:
glosses: To survive; to persevere; to continue.
examples: text: Her memory lives in that song.
text: He has now overseen three straight victories since taking over from Claudio Ranieri and this latest win, against one of the best teams in Europe, will live long in the memory for every Leicester supporter.
ref: 2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian:
glosses: To endure in memory; to escape oblivion.
examples: text: You'll just have to live with it!  I can't live in a world without you.
glosses: To cope.
examples: text: It is difficult to live in poverty.   And they lived happily ever after.
glosses: To pass life in a specified manner.
examples: text: To live an idle or a useful life.
text: Many people write their romances, others live them; Honore de Balzac did both.
ref: 1921, Juanita Helm Floyd, Women in the Life of Balzac:
text: By 1980, South Korea had overtaken its northern neighbour, and was well on its way to being one of the Asian tigers – high-performing economies, with democratic movements ultimately winning power in the 1990s. The withdrawal of most Soviet aid in 1991, with the fall of the Soviet empire, pushed North Korea further down. Kim Il-sung had held a genuine place on North Korean people's affections. His son was regarded as a shadowy playboy, with rumours circulating over the years that he imported Russian and Chinese prostitutes, and lived a life of profligacy and excess.
ref: 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian:
text: But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.
ref: 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:
glosses: To spend, as one's life; to pass; to maintain; to continue in, constantly or habitually.
examples: text: to live the Gospel
ref: 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:
text: Change happens from the inside out and this great resource can show you how to live the habits that build personal and professional effectiveness.
ref: 2006, Laura Cardone, Motivation at Work, →ISBN:
text: In short, he argues, in the modern era, “The only way to build a brand is to live that brand. You have to live the values and the mission, then let the customer decide.”
ref: 2016 March 24, Jon Henley, “The aggressive, outrageous, infuriating (and ingenious) rise of BrewDog”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: To act habitually in conformity with; to practice; to exemplify in one's way of life.
examples: text: at leaſt admit vs libertie,
Euen as thou hopſt to be eternized,
By liuing Aſias mightie Emperour.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
glosses: To live as; to live being.
examples: text: That rockslide trapped me in a cave, and I was trapped for three days, but I lived.
text: No ship could live in such a storm.
text: a strong mast that lived upon the sea
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: To outlast danger; (of a ship or boat) to float.
examples: text: It is hard to live on the minimum wage.   They lived on stale bread.   Man shall not live by bread alone.
qualifier: upon; or by; upon; or by
glosses: To maintain or support one's existence; to provide for oneself; to feed; to subsist.
raw_tags: followed by on
examples: text: I'm sick of spending every day studying at home: I want to go out there and live!
glosses: To make the most of life; to experience a full, rich life.
Synonyms: sense: to have permanent residence somewhere
word: dwell
sense: to survive
word: go on
word: last
word: remain
Derived terms: alive
as I live and breathe
can't live with them, can't live without them
cross-live
die how one lived
die just how one lived
die just like one lived
die just the way one lived
die like one lived
die the way one lived
forelive
forlive
I live in Melbourne
inlive
life
livability
livable
liveability
liveaboard
live a lie
live a little
live and breathe
live and die
live and die by
live and learn
live and let live
live-and-let-live
live at Her Majesty's pleasure
live beyond one's means
live dangerously
lived experience
lived-in
live down
live down to
live end dead end
live for
liveforever
live for the day
live from paycheck to paycheck
live-in
live in
live in each other's pockets
live in hope
live in sin
live in the moment
live in the past
live in the shadow of
live it up
live large
live like a fighting cock
live like a king
lively
live off
live off the country
live off the land
live on
live one's best life
live one's own life
live one's truth
live on the edge
live on top of one another
live out
live-out
live over
live over the brush
live pair
live paycheck to paycheck
live paycheque to paycheque
live rent free in someone's head
live rent-free in someone's head
live rent-free in someone's mind
live rough
live tally
live the dream
live through
live to fight another day
live together
live-together
live to regret
live to tell the tale
live under a rock
live up
live with
live within oneself
live with oneself
live with one's wife's family
livication
long live
long-lived
longliver
man shall not live by bread alone
may you live in interesting times
mislive
one should live so long
outlive
overlive
people that live in glass houses should not throw stones
people that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
people who live in glass houses should not throw stones
people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
prelive
relive
short-lived
shortliver
those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
time to live
underlive
unlive
we live in a society
where do you live
where do you live at
you haven't lived
you'll live
you only live once
Related terms: abide
dwell
reside
stay