live

1 verb IN A PLACE/TIME

1 IN A PLACE/HOME (intransitive always + adv/prep) to have your home in a particular place: live in/at/with/near etc: Where do you live? | We used to live in Bakersfield. | They have one daughter who still lives with them. | live at home (=live with your parents) | look for a place to live (=look for a house to live in) | live rough BrE (=have no home and sleep outdoors)

2 PLANT/ANIMAL (intransitive always + adv/prep) a plant or animal that lives in a particular place grows there or has its home there: live in/on/near etc: The birds live only on this island.

3 AT A PARTICULAR TIME (intransitive always + adv/prep) to be alive at a particular time or when particular events happen

(+ before/in/at): Pythagoras lived a century before Socrates. | He lived during the time of the plague.

4 TO BE KEPT SOMEWHERE (intransitive always + adv/prep) informal especially BrE to be kept in a particular place: live in/on etc: Where does this dish live?

LIVE IN A PARTICULAR WAY

5 (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive) to have a particular type of life, or live in a particular way: live in/under/like etc: These people are living in appalling conditions. | He lived like a king. | live well (=have plenty of money, food etc) | live a quiet/active/healthy life: Ben has to live a quiet life. | live the life of: She lived the life of an aristocrat. | live a life of crime/luxury: a movie star living a life of luxury | live in fear (of): Colin lives in fear of having a heart attack. | live from day to day (=deal with each day as it comes without making plans) | be living on the breadline (=be very poor) | live out of a suitcase (=travel a lot, especially as part of your work)

6 LIVE BY DOING STH (I) to keep yourself alive by working, eating etc: They earn barely enough to live. | live by doing sth: They live by hunting and killing deer. | live on beans/potatoes/grass etc (=eat only a particular type of food): living on a diet of bread and cheese | live out of tins/cans (=eat mainly food from cans, not fresh food) | live on benefit/welfare/-40 a week etc (=have only a small amount of money with which to buy food, pay bills etc): I challenge anyone to try to live on the state pension.

7 live it up informal to do things that you enjoy and spend a lot of money: living it up at the Hotel California

8 LIVE BY A PRINCIPLE/RULE ETC (I) to always behave according to a particular set of rules or ideas: people who live by the Bible

9 live by your wits to get money by being clever or dishonest, and not by doing an ordinary job

10 live a lie to pretend all the time that you feel or believe something when actually you do not: I had to divorce him, I couldn't go on living a lie.

11 EXCITING LIFE (I) to have an exciting life: We're beginning to live at last!

BE ALIVE

12 BE/STAY ALIVE (I) to be alive or be able to stay alive: Without light, plants couldn't live. | He is extremely ill and not expected to live. | The baby only lived a few hours. | Females live longer on average than males. | give sb six months/a year etc to live (=expect someone who is ill to only live for six months etc) | live to see/witness sth (=live long enough to see it): I'm glad she did not live to witness the break-up of her daughter's marriage.

13 the best/greatest/worst ... that ever lived someone who was better, greater etc at doing something than anyone else in the past or present: I think Jimi Hendrix was definitely the greatest guitarist that ever lived.

14 be living on borrowed time to be still alive after the time that you were expected to die

SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP

15 live with/together (I) if two people live together, they live with each other in a sexual relationship without getting married: We wanted to live together and have a child. | the man she's been living with for the last four years

16 live in sin old-fashioned to live together and have a sexual relationship without being married

LIVE FOR A REASON

17 live for sb/sth if you live for someone or something, they are so important to you that they seem to be your main reason for living: He lived for his art. | All through the football season, I lived for Saturdays.

18 live and breathe sth to enjoy doing something so much that you spend most of your time on it: Politics is the stuff I live and breathe.

19 live for the day when to want something to happen very much: She lives for the day when she can have an apartment of her own.

IN YOUR MIND

20 live in a world of your own/live in a dream world to have strange ideas about life that are not like those of other people

21 live in the past to have old-fashioned ideas and attitudes: You can't go on living in the past.

22 live in sb's memory/live with sb to continue to exist in someone's memory: The expression of terror on my son's face lived with me for years.

23 IMAGINE STH (intransitive always + adv/prep) to imagine that you are experiencing something

(+ in/through etc): an old actress living in her past glory OTHER MEANINGS

24 STILL HAVE INFLUENCE (I) if someone's idea or work lives, it continues to influence people: Glasnost lives! | Shakespeare's words live with us still.

25 as long as I live used to emphasize that you will always do or feel something: I'll never forget it as long as I live.

26 not live sth down if you cannot live down something bad that you have done, people do not forget about it: I was tempted to admit defeat, but I would never have lived it down.

27 you live and learn used to say that you have just heard or learnt something surprising

28 live and let live used to say that you should accept other people's behaviour, even if it seems strange

29 you haven't lived used to say that someone's life will be boring if they do not have a particular experience: You haven't lived until you've tasted champagne.

30 sb will live to regret it used to say that someone will wish that they had not done something: If you marry him, you'll live to regret it.

31 if I live to be 100/1000 etc used to say that you will never understand something: If I live to be a thousand years old, I'll never see why she does these things!

32 live to fight/see another day to continue to live or work after a failure or after you have dealt with a difficult situation: A lot of stores like ours have closed down, but we'll live to see another day.

33 long live the King/Queen! etc spoken used as an expression of loyal support

34 long live democracy/America/the people etc used to show support for an idea, principle, or nation

live in phrasal verb (I) if someone who does paid work in a place lives in, they live at that place -see also: live-in live off sb/sth phrasal verb (T) to get your income or food from a supply of money or from another person: Mom used to live off the interest from her savings. | Rick disapproves of people who are living off the welfare. | live off the land (=get food from growing vegetables, hunting etc) live on phrasal verb (I) to continue to exist: Alice's memory will live on. -see also: live 1 (24) live out phrasal verb

1 (I) when someone who does paid work in a place lives out, they do not live in that place

2 (T) live out sth to experience or do something that you have planned or hoped for: The money enabled them to live out their dreams.

3 live out your life in/on/along etc to continue to live in a particular way or place until you die: He lived out his life in solitude.

live through sth phrasal verb (T) to experience difficult or dangerous conditions: It was hard to describe the nightmare she had lived through. live up to sth phrasal verb (T) if something or someone lives up to a standard, reputation, or promise, they do as well as they were expected to, do what they promised etc: The bank is insolvent and will be unable to live up to its obligations. | live up to your expectations: The book certainly lived up to his expectations. live with sth phrasal verb (T) to accept a difficult situation that is likely to continue for a long time: You have to learn to live with stress. 2 /laIv/ adjective

1 LIVING (only before noun) not dead or artificial; living: They are campaigning against experiments on live animals.

-compare dead 1 (1)

2 live broadcast/programme etc a programme that is seen or heard on television or radio at the same time as it is being made

3 live performance/act/music etc a performance in which the entertainer performs for people who are watching rather than for a film, record, etc: Did the introduction of CDs affect the interest in live music? | Madonna live in concert. | live recording (=a recording made of a live performance) | live audience (=the people who watch a live performance): It's always different singing in front of a live audience.

4 ELECTRIC a wire or equipment that is live has electricity flowing through it

-see also: live wire (2)

5 BULLETS/BOMBS a live bullet, bomb etc still has the power to explode because it has not been used: live ammunition

6 live match a match that has not yet been used to produce a flame

7 live coals pieces of coal that are burning

8 live issue/concern an issue that still interests or worries people

9 COMPUTER when a computer system is put into live use, it is used in a real situation by ordinary people instead of just being tested by the people who designed it

10 live yoghurt yoghurt containing bacteria that are still alive

11 a real live ... spoken an expression used to emphasize that something surprising has been seen or exists, used especially to or by children: We saw a real live elephant!

3 adverb

1 broadcast a programme/show/speech etc live to broadcast something at the same time as it actually happens: We will be broadcasting the program live from Austin.

2 perform live to perform in front of people who have come to watch, rather than for a film, record etc