living
verbadjectivenountop 1 000 in film dialogue
- //ˈlɪvɪŋ//
Having life; alive.
verb
- 1
Also a form of livepresent participle of live
Etymology
From Middle English livynge, libbyng, livinde, livand, livende, libbinde, libbende, from Old English lifiġende, lifiende, libbende, from Proto-West Germanic *libbjandī, from Proto-Germanic *libjandz (“living”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *libjaną (“to live”), equivalent to live + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian libbend (“living”), Dutch levend (“living”), German lebend (“living”), Swedish levande (“living”), Icelandic lifandi (“living”).
adjective
- 1
Having life; alive.
a living, breathing child
Respect for the dead does not preclude respect for the living.
It is also pertinent to note that the current obvious decline in work on holarctic hepatics most surely reflects a current obsession with cataloging and with nomenclature of the organisms—as divorced from their study as living entities.
- 2
In use or existing.
Hunanese is a living language.
The cab pulled up in front of a tumbledown cheap ‘villa’ in an unfinished cheap neighbourhood, — the whole place a living monument of the defeat of the speculative builder.
- 3
True to life.
This is the living image of Fidel Castro.
- 4
Of rock or stone, existing in its original state and place.
This we followed for about five paces, when it suddenly widened out into a small chamber, about eight feet square, and hewn out of the living rock.
- 5
Continually updated; not static
HTML is a living standard.
- 6
Used as an intensifier.
He almost beat the living daylights out of me.
noun
- 1
The state of being alive.
- 2
Financial means; a means of maintaining life; livelihood
it's a living
What do you do for a living?
Career opportunity […] is the one who never knocks — especially not on the doors of women, who are still hooking, housewifing and hairdressing for their livings.
- 3
A style of life.
plain living
The National Brewing Company declared that the Chesapeake Bay region was the Land of Pleasant Living.
- 4
Those who are alive: living people.
in the land of the living
Glad to see you're still among the living! [good-humored greeting]
Some say that the spirits of the departed walk among the living, though most of us do not see them.
- 5
A position in a church (usually the Church of England) that has attached to it a source of income; an ecclesiastical benefice.
A Rectory or Parſonage, is a Spirituall liuing, compoſed of Land, Tythe, and other Oblations of the people, ſeparate or dedicate to God in any Congregation, for the ſeruice of his Church there, and for the maintenance of the Gouernour or Miniſter thereof, to vvhoſe charge the ſame is committed.
The patron of the living who had the right to nominate a particular priest might make the choice, but the living was actually granted by the local bishop.
Etymology
From Middle English livynge, libbynge, equivalent to live + -ing. Cognate with Middle Dutch levinge, (whence Dutch leving (“way of life, living”)), Middle Low German lēvinge (“living”).
Forms
- plural
- livings