lifer
English
editEtymology
editPronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈlaɪfə(ɹ)/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪfə(ɹ)
Noun
editlifer (plural lifers)
- A prisoner sentenced to life in prison.
- A prisoner sentenced to transportation for life.
- 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
- They know what a clever lad he is; he'll be a lifer. They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.
- A person with a singular career path, especially in the military.
- 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 63:
- " […] The Top's not a lifer; he's a career Marine. Lifers are a breed. A lifer is anybody who abuses authority he doesn't deserve to have. There are plenty of civilian lifers."
- 2002, Paul Newman, Nine From The Ninth, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 17:
- LRRP planned to become “career” Army, i.e., a lifer, you kept that quiet. Basic LRRP theology said the Army sucked and that philosophy kept one from going crazy because, at the bottom, nothing about the war seemed to make sense anyway. The LRRP's considered a lifer a loser. Being a lifer implied one had no other options available. Every LRRP had his own stories about back home: about family, friends, lovers, opportunities, dreams and a future. These were mostly fantasy, but […]
- 2005, J. M. Coutts, As the Beacon Turns, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 392:
- In the early years of EMS, the term lifer was an entitlement pinned to anyone who had worked the road for ten years or longer with no real plans of seeking a replacement trade. It was a term that was generally delivered in a respectful and lighthearted teasing manner by someone who by all definitions could have easily been described as a lifer himself—with the exception of one drawback. So far, the crews didn't know anyone who had worked in the field for ten years, much less longer […]
- 2018, Adrian Dater, 100 Things Rockies Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die:
- He was a baseball lifer, a seamhead through and through, who just absolutely liked nothing better than sitting down and talking baseball.
- (birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.
- Synonym: life bird
- 2013, Sue Taylor, Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia:
- I saw six species of honeyeaters new to me and went home with 16 lifers and some bad sandfly bites.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editprisoner sentenced to life in prison
|
person who makes a career in the military
|
bird species
|
See also
edit- (bird species): life list
Anagrams
editOld English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *libru.
Cognates
Noun
editlifer f
- liver (interior organ)
Declension
editDeclension of lifer (strong ō-stem)
Derived terms
edit- liferādl (“liver disease”)
- lifersēoc (“having a liver disease”)
- liferlæppa (“lobe of the liver”)
Descendants
editEtymology 2
editBorrowed from Latin laver (“water-plant”).
Noun
editlifer f
- Alternative form of læfer (“reed, rush”)
Declension
editCategories:
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪfə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/aɪfə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Birdwatching
- en:People
- en:Prison
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English feminine nouns
- Old English ō-stem nouns
- Old English terms borrowed from Latin
- Old English terms derived from Latin
- ang:Anatomy