a. [ad. F. livide or L. līvidus, f. līvēre to be livid.] Of a bluish leaden color; discolored as by a bruise; black and blue.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 9. There followed no Carbuncle, no purple or liuide Spots.
1663. Cowley, Christ’s Passion, Verses & Ess. (1669), 2. Dost thou not see the livid traces of the sharp scourges rude embraces?
1703. Pope, Thebais, I. 83. Thou, sable Styx! whose livid streams are roll’d Thro’ dreary coasts.
1720. Gay, Poems (1745), II. 252. With wan care Sunk are those eyes, and livid with despair.
1786. trans. Beckford’s Vathek (1883), 143. A voice from the livid lips of the Prophet articulated these words.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, v. The light glared on the livid face of the corpse.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 345. A livid suffusion like that of erysipelas slightly elevated.
1816. Playfair, Nat. Phil., II. 197. In 1607 it [the Comet] was dark and livid.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 311. Silvery Gull or Herring-Gull of Latham. Mantle bluish-cinereous; legs livid.
1864. Browning, Jas. Lee’s Wife, VI. v. Her lean fingers shut Close, close, their sharp and livid nails Indent the clammy palm.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 220. Hieracium Lawsoni … styles livid.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 179. Over the water there hung … a livid fog of heat.
Comb. 1860. J. R. Edkins, Chinese Scenes & People (1863), 132. A long-faced livid-looking individual … rose.
b. Prefixed, as a qualification, to other adjectives or substantives of color. (Usually hyphened with the adj. when the latter is used attributively.)
In botanical use the form livido- (see -o suffix) has been employed in compound designations of color: so livido-castaneous, -fuscous, -virescent, etc. (W. A. Leighton, Lichen-flora, 1871.)
1805. Charleston Courier, 24 July, 2/3. His cheeks painted with a livid crimson.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. xxvi. His trembling lips are livid blue.
1827–35. Willis, Leper, 53. White scales, Circled with livid purple, cover’d him.
1859. Semple, Diphtheria, 8. The edges of this foul ulcer are swollen, and of a livid-red colour.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. x. His colour has turned to a livid white.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, 218. Disc livid-glaucous.
Hence Lividly adv., in a livid manner, with a livid tinge.
1819. Wiffen, Aonian Hours (1820), 58. Tinging the bough till lividly it grew All ashes.
1898. J. Hutchinson, in Arch. Surg., IX. 339. He looked lividly pale, but by no means absolutely blanched.
