livelong
livelong Lexical Profile
livelong Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Whole or entire; used before a period of time (especially 'day' or 'night') to emphasize how long, tedious, or delightful it seems.
"The children played outside in the meadow all the livelong day."
• noun
A hardy perennial succulent plant (Hylotelephium telephium, formerly Sedum telephium) of the stonecrop family Crassulaceae, native to Eurasia, having thick fleshy leaves and dense clusters of star-shaped pink, purple, or white flowers that remain fresh for a long time after being cut.
Word Nuance & Usage
As an adjective, 'livelong' is used exclusively in the attributive position before time-related nouns (most famously in the phrase 'all the livelong day') and cannot be used predicatively.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English 'lefe longe', originally combining 'lief' (meaning 'dear') as an emotional intensifier with 'long'; the first element was later altered by folk etymology through association with 'live' and 'life'.