(n.) A certain way or manner of living with respect to conditions, circumstances, character, conduct, occupation, etc.; hence, human affairs; also, lives, considered collectively, as a distinct class or type; as, low life; a good or evil life; the life of Indians, or of miners.
(n.) A history of the acts and events of a life; a biography; as, Johnson wrote the life of Milton.
(n.) A person; a living being, usually a human being; as, many lives were sacrificed.
(n.) An essential constituent of life, esp. the blood.
(n.) Animation; spirit; vivacity; vigor; energy.
(n.) Enjoyment in the right use of the powers; especially, a spiritual existence; happiness in the favor of God; heavenly felicity.
(n.) Figuratively: The potential or animating principle, also, the period of duration, of anything that is conceived of as resembling a natural organism in structure or functions; as, the life of a state, a machine, or a book; authority is the life of government.
(n.) Of human beings: The union of the soul and body; also, the duration of their union; sometimes, the deathless quality or existence of the soul; as, man is a creature having an immortal life.
(n.) Something dear to one as one's existence; a darling; -- used as a term of endearment.
(n.) That which imparts or excites spirit or vigor; that upon which enjoyment or success depends; as, he was the life of the company, or of the enterprise.
(n.) The living or actual form, person, thing, or state; as, a picture or a description from the life.
(n.) The potential principle, or force, by which the organs of animals and plants are started and continued in the performance of their several and cooperative functions; the vital force, whether regarded as physical or spiritual.
(n.) The state of being which begins with generation, birth, or germination, and ends with death; also, the time during which this state continues; that state of an animal or plant in which all or any of its organs are capable of performing all or any of their functions; -- used of all animal and vegetable organisms.
(n.) The system of animal nature; animals in general, or considered collectively.