slang. [f. LIFE sb. + -ER1.]
1. One sentenced to penal servitude (or earlier, transportation) for life.
1830. R. Dawson, Pres. State Australia, 201. Some were seven years’ men, and others were what they call ‘lifers.’
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xliii. ‘They’ll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.’
1872. Miss Braddon, To the bitter End, III. 266. ‘I’m a lifer,’ said Richard grimly.
2. A sentence for life.
1832. Fraser’s Mag., V. 530. Is it not a shame to give me a lifer, and they only a month each?
1886. Besant, Childr. Gibeon, II. xi. He got five-and-twenty years, which Joe said was as good as a lifer.
