as I live and breathe

English

WOTD – 12 April 2020

Etymology

Originally a reference to the speaker’s statement being as true as the fact that the speaker is alive (see sense 1).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æz aɪ lɪv ænd bɹiːð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æz aɪ lɪv ænd bɹið/

Phrase

as I live and breathe

1. (dated) Used to declare the truth of a statement with emphasis.
   • 1760, [Arthur] Murphy, The Way to Keep Him, a Comedy in Three Acts: […], Dublin: Printed for G. and A. Ewing, […], →OCLC, act I, page 10:

     Dear Ma'am, why will you chagrine yourſelf about a vile Man, that is not worth,—no, as I live and breathe,—not worth a ſingle Sigh?—

   • 1827, George Boswell, Maria of the Mountain; or, The Castle of Balahana. (Founded on Facts.), London: Printed for the author, by R. Brown, […], →OCLC, page 15:

     [O]ch, as I live and breathe, I would consider myself worse than the beast of the field, if I would be so ungrateful to my lady, who is now in distress.

   • 1877 February, “Who Signed It?”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XXII, number I, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie […], →OCLC, page 60, column 2:

     I hid in one of the empty rooms, and I saw you go by, yes, and as I live and breathe, Liscom Truro, I saw my father following you.

   • 2003, James L. Clark, Eddie et alia, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 282:

     As I live and breathe and eat here in the Wayfarers Inn on this August 21, 1999, I swear to you they're authentic, but of course anything I'd swear wouldn't be worth anything anyway, would it?

   • 2009, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner’s Prologue and Tale”, in Peter Ackroyd, transl., The Canterbury Tales: [...] A Retelling, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 196:

     As I live and breathe, Thomas, you will not flourish unless you are part of our brotherhood. I swear that on all the saints.

2. (dated) Used to express surprise at an experience one is witnessing.

   Synonyms: as I live, (US) I declare

   • 1864, Amelia B[lanford] Edwards, “The Torso of the Belvedere”, in Barbara’s History. A Novel (Harper’s Library of Select Novels; no. 241), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, page 171, column 2:

     Eh? What? Mercy alive! Hilda—Hilda, look here! Bab, as I live and breathe!

   • 1992, Örn, “When the Footprints Become Covered with Snow”, in Kirsten Wolf, Árný Hjaltadóttir, transl., Western Icelandic Short Stories, Winnipeg, Man.: University of Manitoba Press, →ISBN, page 138:

     Well, well, as I live and breathe, it's Svend! My, what a great and dangerously huge fellow you have become!

   • 2000, Janette Oke, T. Davis Bunn, chapter 1, in The Sacred Shore, Bloomington, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, →ISBN, page 11:

     "As I live and breathe, there's the Pride of Weymouth," cried the captain, moving up alongside him at the rail. "Look at her resting there at anchor, calm as by-your-leave. I never thought we'd see her spars again."

   • 2005, Anita Diamant, “Cornelius”, in The Last Days of Dogtown: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 182:

     "Cornelius Finson, as I live and breathe," she proclaimed, "I ain't seen you in a dog's age. Not that you were ever much of a visitor. Now let me have a look at what you've done to yourself."

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see as,‎ I,‎ live,‎ and,‎ breathe.
   • 1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XVI, in Peter Simple. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 276:

     I sha'n't forget that night, Mr. Simple, as long as I live and breathe.

   • 2000 May, Terrance L. Weber, “Faith”, in Anchors of Faith: How to Live the Christian Lifestyle, [Bloomington, Ind.]: [Xlibris], →ISBN; republished as How to Cope … with Life, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, 2012, →ISBN, page 29:

     Even as I live and breathe in this natural world all around me, I still find myself looking, minute-by-minute, with great interest and attention, for the supernatural work—that is—the miracles, the "extra-ordinary" events ordered by God.

   • 2001 March 18, Constance Breen, “As I Love You”, in The Pockets of My Brain, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, published 2012, →ISBN, page 74:

     This is what I take seriously / My life that lives within me / Lives within me just as I / Live and breathe

   • 2004, John Saleeby Jr., “Dawn of the Awful Waffle”, in The Awful Waffle: Hi Cholesterol Humor, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN:

     Not for as long as I've got ROBIN WILLIAMS EATS SHIT emblazoned across my chest. Not for as long as I live and breathe, you bastards.

   • 2009, Jennie M. Lopez, “Brake Threw”, in If It Takes All Life, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, section 10 (Stormy Weather Hurricane Katrina Poetry), page 119:

     As I live and breathe day by day. / I feel myself fading away.

Translations

used to express surprise at an experience one is witnessing

• Polish: jak babcię kocham (pl), niech mnie, niech skonam
• Spanish: como que vivo y respiro

used to declare the truth of a statement with emphasis

• Polish: jak babcię kocham (pl)
• Spanish: en carne y hueso

Further reading

• “as I live (and breathe), phrase” under “as, adv. and conj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2011.
• “as I live and breathe, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.