Live1, v. i.
(lĭv), v. i. [imp. & p. p. LIVED; p. pr. & vb. n. LIVING.] [O. Eng. lyre, leve, libbe, A-S. libban, lifan, leofan, O. Sax. libban, libbian, libhon, lebhon, Goth. liban, O. Fries. libba, liva, leva, L. Ger. & D. leven, O. H. Ger. lebēn, lepēn, N. H. Ger. leben, Icel. lifa, Sw. lefva, Dan. leve; allied to leave, q. v., and O. Sax. lif, O. & M. H. Ger. lip, life, body, N. H. Ger. leib, body.]
Sense 1. To have life; to be animated; to possess capacity for the vital functions; — said of animals and plants.
I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? Gen. xlv. 3.
Sense 2. To pass one's time; to pass life or time as to habits or constitution; as, to live in ease or affluence; to live happily or usefully; — said of persons.
If we act by several broken views, we shall live and die in misery. Addison.
Sense 3. To make one's abiding-place or home; to abide; to dwell; to reside.
Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. Gen. xlvii. 28.
Sense 4. To continue in existence; to remain; to be permanent; to last; — said of inanimate objects or personified ideas. “Nor can our shaken vessels live at sea.” Dryden.
Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water. Shak.
Sense 5. To live, emphatically; to enjoy life; to be in a state of happiness.
What greater curse could envious fortune give Than just to die when I began to live? Dryden.
Then we are glorious forms of heaven, and live, When we can suffer and as soon forgive. Beau. & Fl.
Sense 6. To feed; to subsist; to be nourished or supported; — with on; as, horses live on grass and grain; carnivorous animals live on flesh.
Sense 7. To be maintained in life; to acquire a livelihood; to subsist; — with on or by; as, to live on spoils and robberies. Spenser. “Those who live by labor.” Temple.
Sense 8. (Script.) (a.) To be exempt from spiritual death.
Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them. Lev. xviii. 5. (b.) To be inwardly quickened, nourished, and actuated by divine influence or faith.
The just shall live by faith. Gal. iii. 11.
To live with. (a.) To dwell or to be a lodger with. (b.) To cohabit; to have intercourse, as male and female.