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live¹

  • /ˈlɪv/
  • [ˈlɪv]

Rhymes with -ɪv

Where it comes from

From Middle English lefe, lifen, libbe, libben, live, luvien, lyven, from Old English libban, lifian (“to live; be alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *libbjan, from Proto-Germanic *libjaną (“to live”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick”).

Cognates

Cognate with Yola live (“to live”), North Frisian laawe, lawe, lewe, lewi, lewwe, lääwe (“to live”), Saterland Frisian lieuwje, líeuwje (“to live”), West Frisian libje (“to live”), Alemannic German läbe (“to live”), Cimbrian and Mòcheno lem (“to live”), Dutch leeven, leven (“to live”), German leben (“to live”), German Low German lęven (“to live”), Limburgish leve, léëve (“to live”), Luxembourgish liewen (“to live”), Vilamovian łaowa (“to live”), Yiddish לעבן (lebn, “to live”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål leve (“to live”), Faroese liva (“to live”), Icelandic lifa (“to live”), Norwegian Nynorsk leva, leve, liva (“to live”), Swedish leva (“to live”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban, “to live”); also Latin lippus (“half-sighted, myopic”), Greek λίπος (lípos, “fat, tallow”), Lithuanian lipti (“to stick”), Bulgarian лепя́ (lepjá, “to glue, paste, stick; to plaster, smear”), Czech lepit (“to glue, stick”), Macedonian лепи (lepi, “to glue, stick”), Polish lepić (“to mold; to glue, paste; to stick”), Russian лепи́ть (lepítʹ, “to fashion, sculpt, shape”), Serbo-Croatian лепити, лије́пити, lépiti, lijépiti (“to glue, paste; to stick”), Slovak lepiť (“to stick”), Slovene lepiti (“to stick”), Ukrainian ліпити (lipyty, “to mould, shape”), Sanskrit लिप् (lip, “to anoint, smear; to defile, soil, taint”), रिप् (rip, “deceit, fraud; injury; enemy, traitor”).

verb lives · living · lived

  1. intransitive To be alive; to have life. He's not expected to live for more than a few months.
  2. intransitive To have permanent residence somewhere, to inhabit, to reside. I live at 2a Acacia Avenue.  At that time I'd been living in a camper for about six months.
  3. informal, intransitive (of an object) to have its proper place; to normally be stored. I washed your gravy boat. Where does it live?
  4. intransitive To survive; to persevere; to continue. 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.
  5. intransitive To endure in memory; to escape oblivion. Her memory lives in that song.
  6. excessive, intransitive To cope. You'll just have to live with it!  I can't live in a world without you.
  7. intransitive To pass life in a specified manner. It is difficult to live in poverty.   And they lived happily ever after.
  8. transitive To spend, as one's life; to pass; to maintain; to continue in, constantly or habitually. To live an idle or a useful life.
  9. transitive To act habitually in conformity with; to practice; to exemplify in one's way of life. to live the Gospel
  10. obsolete, transitive To live as; to live being. at leaſt admit vs libertie, Euen as thou hopſt to be eternized, By liuing Aſias mightie Emperour.
  11. ambitransitive To outlast danger; (of a ship or boat) to float. That rockslide trapped me in a cave, and I was trapped for three days, but I lived.
  12. intransitive To maintain or support one's existence; to provide for oneself; to feed; to subsist. It is hard to live on the minimum wage.   They lived on stale bread.   Man shall not live by bread alone.
  13. informal, intransitive To make the most of life; to experience a full, rich life. I'm sick of spending every day studying at home: I want to go out there and live!
  14. figuratively, intransitive To spend a great deal of time in a particular place. She lives on the Internet.

Similar: dwell, last, remain

live²

  • /ˈlaɪ̯v/
  • [ˈlaɪ̯v]
  • /ˈlaːv/ General South African, Southern US
  • [ˈlaːv] General South African, Southern US

Rhymes with -aɪv

Where it comes from

An apheretic form of alive.

adjective more live · most live

  1. attributive Having life; that is alive. The post office will not ship live animals.
  2. Being in existence; actual. He is a live example of the consequences of excessive drinking.
  3. Having active properties; being energized. Because the vaccinia virus is live, it is important to follow care instructions for the vaccination site.
  4. Operational; in actual use rather than in testing etc.
  5. Of an object or value: that may potentially be used in the future execution of a program. An object in the heap is live if its address is held in a root, or there is a pointer to it held in another live heap node.
  6. Taken from a living animal. live feathers
  7. Imparting power; having motion. the live spindle of a lathe
  8. Still in active play. a live ball
  9. Of a card: not yet dealt or played. As a beginner, when you are in a hand, you should practice counting your outs, or those live cards left in the deck that can improve your hand.
  10. Being broadcast (“on the air”), as it happens. The station presented a live news program every evening.
  11. In person. This nightclub has a live band on weekends.
  12. Recorded from a performance in front of an audience. a live album
  13. Able to fire or explode (of firearms or explosives). The air force practices dropping live bombs on the uninhabited island.
  14. Of an environment where sound is recorded: having noticeable reverberation. A good experiment is to have a friend stand in a fixed position in a moderately live room and talk in a clear voice.
  15. Electrically charged or energized, usually with a risk of causing electrocution if touched. Use caution when working near live wires.
  16. Being a bet which can be raised by the bettor, usually in reference to a blind or straddle. Tommy's blind was live, so he was given the option to raise.
  17. Featuring humans; not animated, in the phrases “live actors” or “live action”.
  18. Being in a state of ignition; burning. a live coal; live embers
  19. obsolete Vivid; bright. the live carnation
  20. dated, slang Energetic, attentive, active. a live man, or orator
  21. slang Outstanding, top-notch, exhilarating. The party was live, and the music was jammin. All over the beach people in colorful swimsuits were moving to the beat.
  22. Of a syllable in languages such as Thai and Burmese: resonating, not ending abruptly.

Similar: alive

adverb more live · most live

  1. Of an event, as it happens; in real time; direct. The concert was broadcast live by radio.
  2. Of making a performance or speech, in person. He'll be appearing live at the auditorium.

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