Middle English Dictionary Entry
līvī adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | līvī adj. Also lifi, liviche. |
| Etymology | From līf n. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Living, live; (b) ~ deth, living death; -- oxymoron; (c) phys. necessary to life; ~ vertues, the physiological forces needed to maintain life.
Associated quotations
a
- c1425 Contempl.DLGod (Mdst Mus.6)23 (S.41) : As we putte liuiche þinges bifore hem þat ben not liuiche..riȝt so..we moste putte þe profitable þinges bifore hem þat ben lusti.
- c1450(1410) Walton Boeth.(Lin-C 103)p.313 : Þere goth before a manere sufferaunce Wiþynne þe lyvy bodily substaunce, Whiche þat þe myghtes of þe soule exciteþ.
b
- c1450 ?C.d'Orl.Poems (Hrl 682)71/2082 : For dedy lijf my lyvy deth y wite..For lengthe of woo woo lengtith me so lite That quyk y dye and yet as ded lyue y.
c
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)119/17 : Not oonly animal vertues, þat ben vertues of þe brayn, ben nouȝt Ichaungid, also naturel vertues & liui [vr. lyfy; L vitales] vertues, sensibles & motifes.
- c1475(1392) *MS Wel.564 (Wel 564)127a/a : Naturel vertues & lyuy vertues, sensible & motiues.