livelong

[liv-lawng, -long]

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adjective

(of time) whole or entire, especially when tediously long, slow in passing, etc.: We picked apples the livelong day.

Nearby words

Origin of livelong

1350–1400; alteration (by association with live¹) of earlier leeve long, Middle English leve longe dear long. See lief, long¹

Can be confusedlifelong livelong

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for livelong

Now that you speak of it, I heard Mason say't they was up an' movin' round at the doctor's that livelong night!
The Last Stroke|Lawrence L. Lynch
Indeed, there was no one else to whom she could talk the livelong day.
Little Alice's Palace|Anonymous
In vain she waited the livelong night; no Dermot came back to her.
The Heir of Kilfinnan|W.H.G. Kingston
You can paint to yourself there the livelong day, with no more fear of intrusion than if you were out yonder at the light-ship.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866|Various

Terrors shall bow thee down the livelong day, in the Jotuns' courts.
The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson|Saemund Sigfusson and Snorre Sturleson

British Dictionary definitions for livelong

livelong

adjective mainly poetic

(of time) long or seemingly long, esp in a tedious way (esp in the phrase all the livelong day)

whole; entire

noun

British another name for orpine

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 livelong

livelong

adj.

also live-long, c.1400, lefe longe (day), from leve, lief "dear" (see lief), used here as an emotional intensive + long (adj). From late 16c. conformed in spelling to live (v.) as lief grew strange. German has cognate die liebe lange Nacht, literally "the dear long night."