life

life or get a life [līf]

n.

pl. lives [ME < OE līf, akin to ON líf, life, Ger leib, body < IE base * leibh-, to LIVE¹]

1. that property or quality of plants and animals that distinguishes them from inorganic matter or dead organisms; specif., the cellular biochemical activity or processes of an organism, characterized by the ingestion of nutrients, the storage and use of energy, the excretion of wastes, growth, reproduction, etc.

2. this activity, or the state of possessing this property [brought back to life]

3. a living being, esp. a human being [the lives lost in wars]

4. living things collectively, often of a specified kind [plant life]

5. the time a person or thing is alive or exists, or a specific portion of such time [his early life]

6. a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of one's life

7. one's manner of living [a life of ease]

8. the activities of a given time or in a given setting, and the people who take part in them [military life]

9. lives considered together as belonging to a certain class or type [high life]

10.

a) an individual's animate existence

b) an account of this; biography

c) a specific aspect of an individual's activities [her love life]

11. the existence of the soul [eternal life]

12. something essential to the continued existence of something else [freedom of speech is the life of democracy]

13. the source of vigor or liveliness [the life of the party]

14. vigor; liveliness; animation; vivacity

15. the period of flourishing, usefulness, etc.; period during which anything lasts [fads have a short life]

16. another chance

17. Fine Arts

a) a lifelike quality or appearance

b) representation from living models [a class in life]

adj.

1. for a lifetime [a life sentence]

2. of or relating to the property of life [life processes]

3. using live models [a life class in art]

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a matter of life and death

1. something whose outcome determines whether a person lives or dies

2. any extremely important matter

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as large as life or as big as life

1. LIFE-SIZE

2. in actual fact; truly

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bring to life

1. to bring back to consciousness

2. to make lively; animate

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come to life

1. to recover consciousness

2. to become lively or animated

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for dear life

to, or as if to, save one's life; with a desperate intensity

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for life

1. for the duration of one's life

2. in order to save one's life

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for the life of me

Informal even though my life were at stake on it; by any means: used in negative expressions

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from life

from a living model

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☆ not on your life

Informal by no means; certainly not

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see life

to have a wide variety of social experiences

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take life

to kill

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take one's own life or take one's life

to commit suicide

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☆ the life or the Life

Slang prostitution as a trade

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☆ the life of Riley

Informal a very pleasant or luxurious way of living

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to the life

like the living original; exactly

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true to life

corresponding to what happens or exists in real life; true to reality