life-day Obs. exc. arch.
Forms: see life n. and day n.
A day or some period of a man's life; chiefly pl. (occas. sing.), a man's life or lifetime, ‘(all) the days of (one's) life’. † to bring, do of life-day, to kill; † to leese one's life-dawes, to die.
| Beowulf 1622 (Gr.) Se ellor-gast oflet lifdaᵹas. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1224 On hyra lif-daᵹum. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 129 Her heo leueden al heore lifdaȝes on kare. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1139 Þe while þu art on lif-day. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4119 Quiles him lesten liue daȝes. c 1275 Passion Our Lord 84 in O.E. Misc. 39 Þet heo hyne myhte wreye and don of lyf-daȝe. c 1300 Vox & Wolf 49 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 59 Thine lif-dayes beth al a-go. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 4456 Beues..was islawe And ibrouȝt of his lif dawe. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 1006 in Ritson Metr. Rom. II. 312 Therfore he les his lyf-dawes. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 293 And haiff he lyff-dayis. a 1400–50 Alexander 880 He..leues louely with hir all hys lyue days. 1454 Paston Lett. I. 278 Which affray shorttyd the lyffdayes of the sayd Phillippe. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccx. [ccvi.] 650 These lordes..acorded well toguyder all their lyue dayes. 1538 Duchess of Norfolk in Miss M. A. E. Wood Lett. R. & Illustr. Ladies (1852) II. 368 As for my lord my husband, for his liveday I will never trust him. 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau v. ix. G ij, Ye know that now our life daies are but short. 1876 Morris Sigurd (1887) 25 As a picture all of gold thy life-days shalt thou see. 1893 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. (1917) II. 592, I shall tackle Adam once more... I've been thinking out his first life-days today. 1940 Auden Another Time 61 And we The life-day long shall part no more. |