Chapter Lief to Lifesome of L by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Life annuity

, an annuity payable during one's life. — Life arrow, Life rocket, Life shot, an arrow, rocket, or shot, for carrying an attached line to a vessel in distress in order to save life. — Life assurance. See Life insurance, below. — Life buoy. See Buoy. — Life car, a water- tight boat or box, traveling on a line from a wrecked vessel to the shore. In it persons are hauled through the waves and surf. — Life drop, a drop of vital blood. Byron. — Life estate (Law), an estate which is held during the term of some certain person's life, but does not pass by inheritance. — Life everlasting (Bot.), a plant with white or yellow persistent scales about the heads of the flowers, as Antennaria, and Gnaphalium; cudweed. — Life of an execution (Law), the period when an execution is in force, or before it expires. — Life guard. (Mil.) See under Guard. — Life insurance, the act or system of insuring against death; a contract by which the insurer undertakes, in consideration of the payment of a premium (usually at stated periods), to pay a stipulated sum in the event of the death of the insured or of a third person in whose life the insured has an interest. — Life interest, an estate or interest which lasts during one's life, or the life of another person, but does not pass by inheritance. — Life land (Law), land held by lease for the term of a life or lives. — Life line. (a) (Naut.) A line along any part of a vessel for the security of sailors. (b) A line attached to a life boat, or to any life saving apparatus, to be grasped by a person in the water. — Life rate, the rate of premium for insuring a life. — Life rent, the rent of a life estate; rent or property to which one is entitled during one's life. — Life school, a school for artists in which they model, paint, or draw from living models. — Life table, a table showing the probability of life at different ages. — To lose one's life, to die. — To seek the life of, to seek to kill. — To the life, so as closely to resemble the living person or the subject; as, the portrait was drawn to the life.

Lifeblood
(Life"blood`) n.

1. The blood necessary to life; vital blood. Dryden.

2. Fig.: That which gives strength and energy.

Money [is] the lifeblood of the nation.

Swift.

Lifeboat
(Life"boat`) n. A strong, buoyant boat especially designed for saving the lives of shipwrecked people.

Lifeful
(Life"ful) a. Full of vitality. Spenser.

Life-giving
(Life"-giv`ing) a. Giving life or spirit; having power to give life; inspiriting; invigorating.

Lifehold
(Life"hold`) n. Land held by a life estate.

Lifeless
(Life"less), a. Destitute of life, or deprived of life; not containing, or inhabited by, living beings or vegetation; dead, or apparently dead; spiritless; powerless; dull; as, a lifeless carcass; lifeless matter; a lifeless desert; a lifeless wine; a lifeless story. — Life"less*ly, adv. — Life"less*ness, n.

Syn. — Dead; soulless; inanimate; torpid; inert; inactive; dull; heavy; unanimated; spiritless; frigid; pointless; vapid; flat; tasteless. — Lifeless, Dull, Inanimate, Dead. In a moral sense, lifeless denotes a want of vital energy; inanimate, a want of expression as to any feeling that may be possessed; dull implies a torpor of soul which checks all mental activity; dead supposes a destitution of feeling. A person is said to be lifeless who has lost the spirits which he once had; he is said to be inanimate when he is naturally wanting in spirits; one is dull from an original deficiency of mental power; he who is dead to moral sentiment is wholly bereft of the highest attribute of his nature.

Lifelike
(Life"like`) a. [Cf. Lively.] Like a living being; resembling life; giving an accurate representation; as, a lifelike portrait. — Life"like`ness, n. Poe.

Lifelong
(Life"long`) a. [Life + long. Cf. Livelong.] Lasting or continuing through life. Tennyson.