live

pronunciation

How to pronounce live in British English: UK [lɪv] word uk audio image

How to pronounce live in American English: US [ lɪv] word us audio image

Verb:

make one's home or live in
lead a certain kind of life; live in a certain style
continue to live; endure or last
support oneself
have life, be alive
have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations
pursue a positive and satisfying existence
Adjective:

actually being performed at the time of hearing or viewing
showing characteristics of life; exerting force or containing energy
highly reverberant
charged with an explosive
rebounds readily
abounding with life and energy
in current use or ready for use
of current relevance
charged or energized with electricity
having life
capable of erupting
Adverb:

not recorded

Word Origin

live: live: [OE] Modern English live represents a conflation of two Old English verbs, libban and lifian, both of which go back ultimately to the same prehistoric Germanic source, *lib- ‘remain, continue’. Variants of this produced leave ‘depart’ and life. The adjective live [16] is a reduced form of alive, which derived from life.=> life

live (v.): Old English lifian (Anglian), libban (West Saxon) "to be, to live, have life; to experience," also "to supply oneself with food, to pass life (in some condition)," from Proto-Germanic *liben (cognates: Old Norse lifa "to live, remain," Old Frisian libba, German leben, Gothic liban "to live"), from PIE root *leip- "to remain, continue" (source also of Greek liparein "to persist, persevere;" see leave). Meaning "to make a residence, dwell" is from c. 1200. Related: Lived; living.According to the Dutch Prouerbe ... Leuen ende laetan leuen, To liue and to let others liue. [Malynes, 1622]To live it up "live gaily and extravagantly" is from 1903. To live up to "act in accordance with" is 1690s, from earlier live up "live on a high (moral or mental) level" (1680s). To live (something) down "outwear (some slander or embarrassment)" is from 1842. To live with "cohabit as husband and wife" is attested from 1749; sense of "to put up with" is attested from 1937. Expression live and learn is attested from c. 1620.

live (adj.): 1540s, "having life," later (1610s) "burning, glowing," a shortening of alive (q.v.). Sense of "containing unspent energy or power" (live ammunition, etc.) is from 1799. Meaning "in-person" (of performance) is first attested 1934. Live wire is attested from 1890; figurative sense of "active person" is from 1903.