alife
English
[edit]
Etymology 1
[edit]Compare lief (“dear”).
Alternative forms
[edit]Adverb
[edit]alife (not comparable)
- (obsolete) with all one's heart; dearly.[1]
- 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
- Saffron loueth a-life to be trampled and trod vpon.
- 1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC:
- A busie fellow loveth a-life to step secretly into a house.
- c. 1604–1626, doubtfully attributed to Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Faithful Friends”, in Henry [William] Weber, editor, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, in Fourteen Volumes: […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; […], published 1812, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 50:
- Fla[via]. Come, Sir Pergamus, till your horse come, you and I'll go play at shuttle-cock. / Per[gamus]. A match i'faith. I love that sport a' life. Yet my mother charged me not to use it for fear of putting my arm out of joint.
Usage notes
[edit]Always collocated with "love" e.g. to love someone/something alife
Etymology 2
[edit]Abbreviation of artificial life.
Noun
[edit]alife (uncountable)
- Alternative form of A-life
References
[edit]- ^ “alife”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Adjective
[edit]alife
- Alternative form of alyve