lief

[leef]

adverb

gladly; willingly: I would as lief go south as not.

adjective Archaic.

willing; desirous.
dear; beloved; treasured.

Origin of lief

before 900; Middle English leef, Old English lēof; cognate with Dutch lief, German lieb, Old Norse ljufr, Gothic liufs; akin to love

Related formslief·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lief

Contemporary Examples of lief

“They learn about what it is that drove them to these lengths,” says Lief.
Can Sex-Addiction Rehab Save Tiger?
Abby Ellin
December 18, 2009

Historical Examples of lief

So we said we'd as lief wait a spell, though a clean pinny wasn't needed.
Quaint Courtships
Various
For he would as lief be a victim of success, he assures us, as to forego his mojadderah.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
It's like ye'd as lief be in this snug room as on the fell to-neet, Ralph?
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine
How should the "faithful esquire" whose faith is mistrusted still be lief and dear?
Hiero
Xenophon
But I'd as lief encounter a West India hurricane or a simoom.
Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863
Various

British Dictionary definitions for lief

lief

adverb

rare gladly; willinglyI'd as lief go today as tomorrow

adjective

archaic
1. ready; glad
2. dear; beloved

Word Origin for lief

Old English leof; related to lufu love

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lief

adj.

Old English leof "dear, valued, beloved, pleasant;" also as a noun, "a beloved person, friend," from Proto-Germanic *leubo- (cf. Old Norse ljutr, Old Frisian liaf, Dutch lief, Old High German liob, German lieb, Gothic liufs "dear, beloved"), from PIE root *leubh- "love" (see love (n.)). As an adverb, "dearly, willingly" from c.1250. I want and I'd love to are overworked and misused to fill the hole left in the language when I would lief faded in 17c.