Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LIT'TLE, adv.

1. In a small degree; slightly; as, he is little changed. It is a little discolored.
2. Not much; in a small quantity or space of time. He sleeps little.
3. In some degree; slightly; sometimes preceded by a. The liquor is a little sour or astringent.

LIT'TLE, n.

1. A small quantity or amount. He demanded much and obtained little. He had little of his father's liberality.
2. A small space. Much was in little writ. – Dryden.
3. Any thing small, slight, or of inconsiderable importance. I view with anger and disdain, / How little gives thee joy and pain. – Prior.
4. Not much. These they are fitted for, and little else. – Cheyne.

LIT'TLE-NESS, n.

1. Smallness of size or bulk; as, the littleness of the body or of an animal.
2. Meanness; want of grandeur; as, littleness of conception.
3. Want of dignity. Contemplations on the majesty of God displayed in his works, may awaken in us a sense of our own littleness.
4. Meanness; penuriousness.

LIT'TO-RAL, a. [L. littoralis, from littus, shore.]

Belonging to a shore, as of the sea, or a great lake.

LIT'U-ITE, n.

A fossil shell.

LI-TUR'GIC-AL, a. [See Liturgy.]

Pertaining to a liturgy.

LIT'UR-GY, n. [Fr. liturgie; Sp. and It. liturgia; Gr. λειτουργια; λειτος, public, and εργον, work.]

In a general sense, all public ceremonies that belong to divine service; hence, in a restricted sense, among the Romanists, the mass; and among Protestants, the common prayer, or the formulary of public prayers. – Johnson. Encyc.

LIVE, a.

1. Having life; having respiration and other organic functions in operation, or in a capacity to operate; not dead; as, a live ox.
2. Having vegetable life; as, a live plant.
3. Containing fire; ignited; not extinct; as, a live coal.
4. Vivid, as color. – Thomson.

LIVE, v.i. [liv; Sax. liban, leofan, lifian; Goth. liban; Sw. lefwa; Dan. lever; G. leben; D. lieven. It coincides with leave. The primary sense probably is to rest, remain, abide. If so, the root may be Ar. لَبَّ labba, to be, to abide. Class Lb, No 1.]

1. To abide; to dwell; to have settled residence in any place. Where do you live? I live in London. He lives in Philadelphia. He lives in a large house in Second street. The Swiss live on mountains. The Bedouin Arabs live in the desert.
2. To continue; to be permanent; not to perish. Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues / We write on water. – Shak.
3. To be animated; to have the vital principle; to have the bodily functions in operation, or in a capacity to operate, as respiration, circulation of blood, secretions, &c.; applied to animals. I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? – Gen. xiv.
4. To have the principles of vegetable life; to be in a state in which the organs do or may perform their functions in the circulation of sap and in growth; applied to plants. The tree will not live, unless watered; it will not live through the winter.
5. To pass life or time in a particular manner, with regard to habits or condition. In what manner does your son live? Does he live in ease and affluence? Does he live according to the dictates of reason and the precepts of religion? If we act by several broken views, we shall live and die in misery. – Spectator.
6. To continue in life. The way to live long is to be temperate.
7. 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.
8. To feed; to subsist; to be nourished and supported in life; as, horses live on grass or grain; fowls live on seeds or insects; some kinds of fish live on others; carnivorous animals live on flesh.
9. To subsist; to be maintained in life; to be supported. Many of the clergy are obliged to live on, small salaries. All men in health may live by industry with economy, yet some men live by robbery.
10. To remain undestroyed; to float; not to sink or founder. It must be a good ship that lives at sea in a hurricane. Nor can our shaken vessels live at sea. – Dryden.
11. To exist; to have being. As I live, saith the Lord. Ezek. xxviii.
12. In Scripture, to be exempt from death, temporal or spiritual. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Lev. xviii.
13. To recover from sickness; to have life prolonged. Thy son liveth. – John iv.
14. To be inwardly quickened, nourished and actuated by divine influence or faith. – Gal. ii.
15. To be greatly refreshed, comforted and animated. For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. – 1 Thess. iii.
16. To appear as in life or reality; to be manifest in real character. And all the writer lives in every line. – Pope. To live with, to dwell or to be a lodger with. #2. To cohabit; to have intercourse, as male and female. – Shak. To live down, to live so as to subdue, or to live till subdued. – Burke.

LIVE, v.t. [liv.]

1. To continue in constantly or habitually; as, to live a life of ease.
2. To act habitually in conformity to. It is not enough to say prayers, unless they live them too. – Parker.

LIVE'LESS, a. [not used. See LIFELESS.]

LIVE'LI-ER, a. [comp.]

More lively.

LIVE'LI-EST, a. [superl.]

Most lively.

LIVE'LI-HOOD, n. [lively and hood, or lifelode, from lead. I find in Saxon lif-lade, lead or course of life, vitæ iter.]

Means of living; support of life; maintenance. Trade furnishes many people with an honest livelihood. Men of enterprise seek a livelihood where they can find it.

LIVE'LI-NESS, n. [from lively.]

1. The quality or state of being lively or animated; sprightliness; vivacity; animation; spirit; as, the liveliness of youth, contrasted with the gravity of age.
2. An appearance of life, animation or spirit; as, the liveliness of the eye or countenance in a portrait.
3. Briskness; activity; effervescence, as of liquors.

LIVE'LODE,

for Livelihood, not used. – Hubberd's Tale.

LIVE'LONG, a. [liv'long. live and long.]

1. Long in passing. How could she sit the livelong day, / Yet never ask us once to play? – Swift.
2. Lasting; durable; as, a livelong monument. [Not used.] – Milton.
3. [n.] A plant of the genus Sedum.

LIVE'LY, a.

1. Brisk; vigorous; vivacious; active; as, a lively youth.
2. Gay; airy. From grave to gay, from lively to severe. – Pope.
3. Representing life; as, a lively imitation of nature.
4. Animated; spirited; as, a lively strain of eloquence; a lively description.
5. Strong; energetic; as, a lively faith or hope; a lively persuasion. Lively stones, in Scripture. Saints are called lively stones, as being quickened by the Spirit and active in holiness. – Brown.

LIVE'LY, adv.

1. Briskly; vigorously. [Little used.] – Hayward.
2. With strong resemblance of life. That part of poetry must needs be best, which describes most lively our actions and passions. [Little used.] Dryden.

LIV'ER, n.¹

One who lives. And try if life be worth the liver's care. – Prior. It is often used with a word of qualification; as, a high liver; a loose liver, &c.

LIV'ER, n.² [Sax. lifer, lifre; D. leever; G. leber; Sw. lefver; Dan. lever; Russ. liber. The Saxon word is rendered also libramentum, and this viscus may be named from its weight.]

An abdominal and glandular viscus of considerable size and of a reddish color, convex on the anterior and superior side, and of an unequal surface on the inferior and posterior side. It is situated under the false ribs, in the right hypochondrium. It consists of two lobes, and is destined for the secretion of the bile. – Encyc.

LIV'ER-COLOR, a.

Dark red; of the color of the liver. – Woodward.

LIV'ER-ED, a.

Having a liver; as, white-livered. – Sherwood.

LIV'ER-GROWN, a.

Having a large liver. – Graunt.

LIV'ER-STONE, n. [G. leber-stein.]

A stone or species of earth of the barytic genus, of a gray or brown color, which, when rubbed or heated to redness, emits the smell of liver of sulphur, or alkaline sulphuret. – Kirwan.