LIVE, v.i. liv.

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.

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.

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.

1. To be alive; to have life; to have, as an animal or a plant, the capacity of assimilating matter as food, and to be dependent on such assimilation for a continuance of existence; as, animals and plants that live to a great age are long in reaching maturity.
   
   

   Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will . . . lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live. Ezek. xxxvii. 5, 6.

2. To spend, as one's life; to pass; to maintain; to continue in, constantly or habitually; as, to live an idle or a useful life.
3. Having life; alive; living; not dead.
   
   

   If one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it. Ex. xxi. 35.

4. Life.
   
   
   [Obs.] Chaucer.

   On live, in life; alive. [Obs.] See Alive. Chaucer.

5. To pass one's time; to pass life or time in a certain manner, as to habits, conduct, or circumstances; as, to live in ease or affluence; to live happily or usefully.
   
   

   O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions! Ecclus. xli. 1.

6. To act habitually in conformity with; to practice.
   
   

   To live the Gospel. Foxe.

   To live down, to live so as to subdue or refute; as, to live down slander.

7. Being in a state of ignition; burning; having active properties; as, a live coal; live embers.
   
   
   " The live ether." Thomson.
8. 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.

9. Full of earnestness; active; wide awake; glowing; as, a live man, or orator.
10. To be or continue in existence; to exist; to remain; to be permanent; to last; -- said of inanimate objects, ideas, etc.
    
    

    Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
    We write in water. Shak.

11. Vivid; bright.
    
    
    " The live carnation." Thomson.
12. To enjoy or make the most of 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.

13. Imparting power; having motion; as, the live spindle of a lathe.
    
    

    Live birth, the condition of being born in such a state that acts of life are manifested after the extrusion of the whole body. Dunglison. -- Live box, a cell for holding living objects under microscopical examination. P. H. Gosse. -- Live feathers, feathers which have been plucked from the living bird, and are therefore stronger and more elastic. -- Live gang. (Sawing) See under Gang. -- Live grass (Bot.), a grass of the genus Eragrostis. -- Live load (Engin.), a suddenly applied load; a varying load; a moving load; as a moving train of cars on a bridge, or wind pressure on a roof. Live oak (Bot.), a species of oak (Quercus virens), growing in the Southern States, of great durability, and highly esteemed for ship timber. In California the Q. chrysolepis and some other species are also called live oaks. -- Live ring (Engin.), a circular train of rollers upon which a swing bridge, or turntable, rests, and which travels around a circular track when the bridge or table turns. -- Live steam , steam direct from the boiler, used for any purpose, in distinction from exhaust steam. -- Live stock, horses, cattle, and other domestic animals kept on a farm.

14. To feed; to subsist; to be nourished or supported; -- with on; as, horses live on grass and grain.
15. To have a spiritual existence; to be quickened, nourished, and actuated by divine influence or faith.
    
    

    The just shall live by faith. Gal. iii. ll.

16. To be maintained in life; to acquire a livelihood; to subsist; -- with on or by; as, to live on spoils.
    
    

    Those who live by labor. Sir W. Temple.

17. To outlast danger; to float; -- said of a ship, boat, etc.; as, no ship could live in such a storm.
    
    

    A strong mast that lived upon the sea. Shak.

    To live out, to be at service; to live away from home as a servant. [U. S.] -- To live with. (a) To dwell or to be a lodger with. (b) To cohabit with; to have intercourse with, as male with female.