qui vive

American  

[kee veev] / ki ˈviv /

1. who goes there? (used as a sentry's challenge)

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idioms

1. on the qui vive, on the alert; watchful.

   Special guards were on the qui vive for trespassers.

qui vive British  

/ ˌkiː ˈviːv /

noun

1. on the alert; attentive

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Etymology

Origin of qui vive

1720–30; < French: literally, (long) live who? (i.e., on whose side are you?)

Example Sentences

The Angora Government, with its five senses on the qui vive, is anxious to draw America into the next meeting of the Lausanne Conference, scheduled to take place on April 23.

From Time Magazine Archive

Royalists, always on the qui vive for a disturbance, attacked it for reasons of their own.

From Time Magazine Archive

Recently two members of the British Security Police dressed themselves up in German uniforms and started out in broad British daylight to see whether Britain was on the qui vive.

From Time Magazine Archive

But events darkly occurring in Manchuria kept all the Russias on the qui vive.

From Time Magazine Archive

She looked quite stunning as she walked across the dining room to the table, not at all unlike a girl on the qui vive appropriate to a big college weekend.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger