Wiktionary

liver

See also: Liver

English

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Sheep's liver
explainer video about the human liver

Etymology 1

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From Middle English lyvere, lyver, from Old English lifer (“liver”), from Proto-West Germanic *libru, from Proto-Germanic *librō, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smear, smudge, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Líeuwer, Lieuwer (“liver”), West Frisian lever (“liver”), Dutch lever (“liver”), German Leber (“liver”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish lever (“liver”) (the last three from Old Norse lifr (“liver”)). Related to live.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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liver (countable and uncountable, plural livers)

  1. (anatomy) A large organ in the body that stores and metabolizes nutrients, destroys toxins and produces bile. It is responsible for thousands of biochemical reactions.
    Steve Jobs is a famous liver transplant recipient.
  2. (countable, uncountable) This organ, as taken from animals used as food.
    I'd like some goose liver pate.
    You could fry up some chicken livers for a tasty treat. — Nah, I don't like chicken liver.
    • 1993, Philippa Gregory, Fallen Skies, →ISBN, page 222:
      "I should think you've rocked the boat enough already by refusing to eat liver."
  3. A dark brown colour, tinted with red and gray, like the colour of liver.
    liver:  
  4. (obsolete chemistry) Any of various chemical compounds—particularly sulfides—thought to resemble livers in color.
    He gave his horse some liver of antimony.
Usage notes
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  • The noun is often used attributively to modify other words. Used in this way, it frequently means "concerning the liver", "intended for the liver" or "made of liver" .
Derived terms
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Translations
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organ of the body
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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liver (not comparable)

  1. Of the colour of liver (dark brown, tinted with red and gray).
    • 2006, Rawdon Briggs Lee, A History and Description of the Modern Dogs of Great Britain & Ireland, →ISBN, page 298:
      His friend Rothwell, who had the use of the best Laveracks for breeding purposes, wrote him that one of his puppies was liver and white.
Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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From Middle English lyvere, livere, equivalent to live +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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liver (plural livers)

  1. (uncommon) Someone who lives (usually in a specified way).
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
      Ephori of Sparta, hearing a dissolute liver propose a very beneficial advise unto the people, commaunded him to hold his peace, and desired an honest man to assume the invention of it unto himselfe and to propound it.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 7:
      a wicked liver may be reclaimed, and prove an honest man […].
    • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      Try if life be worth the liver's care.
    • 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:
      […] a stately speech; / Such as grave Livers do in Scotland use, / Religious men, who give to God and Man their dues.
    • 2014, Walter Raubicheck, Anya Morlan, Christianity and the Detective Story, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN:
      A great lover of the faith, a great defender of the faith, a great lover of life, great liver of life, great defender of life. And yet he plotted and planned over fifty murders, and carried each of one them out—if only on paper, and if only for our pleasure.
    1. Someone who is alive: one of the living.
      • 1592, Alb. Eng., Warner, VIII, xliii (1612), 206:
        When as the wandring Scots and Picthts King Marius had subdude, He gave the Liuers dwellings.
      • 1599, Greene, Alphonsus, Wks. (Rtldg.), page 234:
        Thou king of heaven, which […] Dost see the secret of each livers heart.
    2. Someone who lives in a particular place; an inhabitant, a dweller.
      • 1677, Cary, Chronol., II, ii, III, xiv, 252:
        They must instantly have been detected by the present Livers that were upon the place.
      • 1747, Col. Rec. Pennsylv., V, 87:
        One, John Powle, a Liver on Sasquehanna River.
      • 1863, D. G. Mitchell, Sev. Stor., My Farm of Edgewood, section 289:
        There is no liver in the country so practical.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From live (adjective) +‎ -(e)r.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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liver

  2. comparative form of live: more live
    Seeing things on a big screen somehow makes them seem liver.
    • 2001, Adam F featuring MOP, “Stand Clear”:
      […] manslaughter, liver than camcorder

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Breton

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Noun

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liver m

  1. painter

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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liver

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (“liver”)

Etymology 2

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Noun

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liver

  1. Alternative form of lyvere (“living being”)

Etymology 3

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Verb

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liver

  1. Alternative form of lyveren

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Verb

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liver

  1. (non-standard since 1917) present of liva
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