as I live and breathe
Language: English
Part of speech: phrase
Pronunciation: ipa: /æz aɪ lɪv ænd bɹiːð/
ipa: /æz aɪ lɪv ænd bɹið/
Etymology: Originally a reference to the speaker’s statement being as true as the fact that the speaker is alive (see sense 1).
Senses: examples: text: Dear Ma'am, why will you chagrine yourſelf about a vile Man, that is not worth,—no, as I live and breathe,—not worth a ſingle Sigh?—
ref: 1760, [Arthur] Murphy, The Way to Keep Him, a Comedy in Three Acts: […], Dublin: Printed for G. and A. Ewing, […], →OCLC, act I, page 10:
text: [O]ch, as I live and breathe, I would consider myself worse than the beast of the field, if I would be so ungrateful to my lady, who is now in distress.
ref: 1827, George Boswell, Maria of the Mountain; or, The Castle of Balahana. (Founded on Facts.), London: Printed for the author, by R. Brown, […], →OCLC, page 15:
text: I hid in one of the empty rooms, and I saw you go by, yes, and as I live and breathe, Liscom Truro, I saw my father following you.
ref: 1877 February, “Who Signed It?”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XXII, number I, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie […], →OCLC, page 60, column 2:
text: As I live and breathe and eat here in the Wayfarers Inn on this August 21, 1999, I swear to you they're authentic, but of course anything I'd swear wouldn't be worth anything anyway, would it?
ref: 2003, James L. Clark, Eddie et alia, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 282:
text: As I live and breathe, Thomas, you will not flourish unless you are part of our brotherhood. I swear that on all the saints.
ref: 2009, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner’s Prologue and Tale”, in Peter Ackroyd, transl., The Canterbury Tales: [...] A Retelling, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 196:
glosses: Used to declare the truth of a statement with emphasis.
examples: text: Eh? What? Mercy alive! Hilda—Hilda, look here! Bab, as I live and breathe!
ref: 1864, Amelia B[lanford] Edwards, “The Torso of the Belvedere”, in Barbara’s History. A Novel (Harper’s Library of Select Novels; no. 241), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, page 171, column 2:
text: Well, well, as I live and breathe, it's Svend! My, what a great and dangerously huge fellow you have become!
ref: 1992, Örn, “When the Footprints Become Covered with Snow”, in Kirsten Wolf, Árný Hjaltadóttir, transl., Western Icelandic Short Stories, Winnipeg, Man.: University of Manitoba Press, →ISBN, page 138:
text: "As I live and breathe, there's the Pride of Weymouth," cried the captain, moving up alongside him at the rail. "Look at her resting there at anchor, calm as by-your-leave. I never thought we'd see her spars again."
ref: 2000, Janette Oke, T. Davis Bunn, chapter 1, in The Sacred Shore, Bloomington, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, →ISBN, page 11:
text: "Cornelius Finson, as I live and breathe," she proclaimed, "I ain't seen you in a dog's age. Not that you were ever much of a visitor. Now let me have a look at what you've done to yourself."
ref: 2005, Anita Diamant, “Cornelius”, in The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 182:
synonyms: word: as I live
word: I declare
glosses: Used to express surprise at an experience one is witnessing.
examples: text: I sha'n't forget that night, Mr. Simple, as long as I live and breathe.
ref: 1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XVI, in Peter Simple. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 276:
text: Even as I live and breathe in this natural world all around me, I still find myself looking, minute-by-minute, with great interest and attention, for the supernatural work—that is—the miracles, the "extra-ordinary" events ordered by God.
ref: 2000 May, Terrance L. Weber, “Faith”, in Anchors of Faith: How to Live the Christian Lifestyle, [Bloomington, Ind.]: [Xlibris], →ISBN; republished as How to Cope … with Life, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, 2012, →ISBN, page 29:
text: This is what I take seriously / My life that lives within me / Lives within me just as I / Live and breathe
ref: 2001 March 18, Constance Breen, “As I Love You”, in The Pockets of My Brain, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, published 2012, →ISBN, page 74:
text: Not for as long as I've got ROBIN WILLIAMS EATS SHIT emblazoned across my chest. Not for as long as I live and breathe, you bastards.
ref: 2004, John Saleeby Jr., “Dawn of the Awful Waffle”, in The Awful Waffle: Hi Cholesterol Humor, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN:
text: As I live and breathe day by day. / I feel myself fading away.
ref: 2009, Jennie M. Lopez, “Brake Threw”, in If It Takes All Life, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, section 10 (Stormy Weather Hurricane Katrina Poetry), page 119:
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see as, I, live, and, breathe.