Alive adv.

or pred. a., orig. phr. Forms: α. 1–2 on lífe, 2–7 on liue, 4–6 on lyue, on lyve, 6 on lyfe. β. Contr.: 3 oliue, 3–7 aliue, 4 olyve, olyfe, 4–6 alyve, alyue, 5 a lyff, 6 alyfe, 6– alive. [A prep.¹ = on, in + ME. live, OE. lífe, dat. sing. of líf LIFE. Here, as in the pl. lives and the vb. live, the f between two vowels took the voice-sound v, while f final remained in the nom. sing. This disguises the fact that a-live is only a shortened form of on life = in life. The fuller form on live was still current in the 17th cent.]

  1.  In life; in the living state; living.

  α.  a. 1000.  Cædmon, Gen. (Grein), 2610. Seó on life wæs wintrum yldre.

1205.  Layam., 1378. Wel wes him on liue [1250 aliue].

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. V. 259. Þey þat were lefte no lyve.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom. (1879), 285. He went and bete him, and lefte hym halfe on lyve.

c. 1500.  Partenay, 4204. Fair sir, saue my life, lete me on-lif go.

1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 68. About which time Geffrey of Monmouth was on live also.

1602.  [See 3].

  β.  c. 1200.  Moral Ode, 23. Hwile he beð aliue. [Another MS. Hwile ȝe buð a life.]

c. 1300.  Beket, 67. Whar he scholde alyve this Gilbert fynde.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XXIII. 9549. Achilles … Might socour his Soudiours, & saue hom alyue.

c. 1440.  Morte Arth., 802. Thus he brittenyd the bere, and broghte hyme olyfe.

1538.  Starkey, England, II. ii. 136. Theyr parentys being Alyfe.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. Ven., II. ii. 75. God reste his soule aliue or dead.

1611.  Bible, Josh. ii. 13. Saue aliue my father.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 254, ¶ 2. To be married I find is to be buried alive.

1796.  Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, x. 154. Take your cod whilst alive and cut it in slices.

a. 1842.  Tennyson, May Queen, III. 1. I thought to pass away before, and yet alive I am.

  2.  Often used for emphasis: ‘any man alive,’ any living man whatever, any man in the world.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 19. Þeo beon to alle men oliue iliche meane.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XXXII. 12814. Hir brother ho best louet of buernes olyue.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 793. Glad and blythe was everyche a lyff.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 535. Ouer hard to eny man on lyue.

1552.  Lyndesay, Monarche, 5062. To peirs the hartis Off euerilk Creature on lyue.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 167, ¶ 3. I should be the most contented happy man alive.

1858.  Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt. Part., I. xxii. 8. There is no assignable cause; man alive cannot tell a reason why.

  b.  Hence, as intensive or expletive. colloq.

a. 1845.  Hood, Agric. Distress, vi. Says he, ‘no matter man alive!’

1857.  Dickens, Christm. Carol, 43. Why, bless my heart alive, my dear, how late you are!

a. 1860.  in Bartlett, Dict. Amer., s.v. Sakes, Why, sakes alive! do tell me if Enos is as mean as all that comes to.

  3.  fig. in reference, e.g., to fire, courage, discontent, fame, memory, or anything which is liable to subside, fail, or decay: In full force or vigor, unextinguished, unabated, unforgotten.

1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 38 b. Cornish gentlemen use all possible remedies … to keep it on live.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., III. ii. 240. There is scarce truth enough aliue to make Societies secure.

1756.  Burke, Vind. Nat. Soc., Wks. I. 61. Our boasted liberty … has only been kept alive by the blasts of continual feuds.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 74. He kept discontent constantly alive.

1876.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xiii. 277. The political constitution once common to every Teutonic people was still alive in England.

  4.  In the sentient or susceptible condition which distinguishes life from death; fully susceptible (to any sensation or idea); sensitive, awake, fully conscious.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 191. The touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er, To smart.

1762.  Falconer, Shipwr., I. 245.

1778.  Bentham, Penal Law, Wks. 1843, I. 456. Women … are more alive to, and susceptible of, the impression of shame than men.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 31. My feelings were yet alive on the subject.

1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 139. Both sides were fully alive to the vital importance of the crisis.

  5.  In the active condition which distinguishes life from death; full of alacrity, lively, vivacious, brisk, quick in action. To look alive (colloq.): to make haste.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VIII. 343. She thought herself not so well, and so clear in her intellects [so much alive, she used to say,] if she exceeded this proportion [six hours’s rest].

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. III. (1863), 108. The most entertaining person, the most alive of any one I met there.

1835.  Marryat, Jac. Faithf., i. 5. We must be at the wharf early to-morrow morning, so keep alive.

1858.  Hughes, Scouring White Horse, 29. The Squire … told the men to look alive and get their job done.

  6.  In a state of commotion, stirring, or swarming with things in motion.

1808.  Scott, Marmion, V. vi. All was alive with martial show.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 361. The whole river was alive with wherries.

1872.  Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxvi. 362. The hotel was all alive with elderly ladies.

  Comb. alive-like a., with all the appearance of being alive.

1639.  J. Clarke, Parœmiologia, 275. He’s alive, and alive-like, Crotone salubrius.