Noun

The process or result of being gradually decomposed.

* 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay , this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.

A deterioration of condition.

Noun

(en-noun)

The state that follows birth, and precedes death; the state of being alive and living.

:

*{{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

#A .

#:

#*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.}}

#(lb) A status possessed by any of a number of entities, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and sometimes viruses, which have the properties of replication and metabolism.

(lb) A period of time.

#The period during which one (a person, an animal, a plant, a star) is alive.

#*

#*:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

#*1916', (Ezra Meeker), ''The Busy '''Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker

#The span of time during which an object operates.

#:

#The period of time during which an object is recognizable.

#:

#(lb) A life sentence; a term of imprisonment of a convict until his or her death.

(lb) Personal existence.

#(lb) The essence of the manifestation and the foundation of the being.

#*1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), , Ch.VI:

#*:"I realize as never before how cheap and valueless a thing is life'. '''Life''' seems a joke, a cruel, grim joke. You are a laughable incident or a terrifying one as you happen to be less powerful or more powerful than some other form of ' life which crosses your path; but as a rule you are of no moment whatsoever to anything but yourself. You are a comic little figure, hopping from the cradle to the grave. Yes, that is our trouble—we take ourselves too seriously; but Caprona should be a sure cure for that." She paused and laughed.

#(lb) The subjective and inner manifestation of the individual.

#*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life'. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as ' life -like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}

#The world in general; existence.

#:

#A worthwhile existence.

#:

#Animation; spirit; vivacity.

#*(Henry Felton) (1679-1740)

#*:No notion of life and fire in fancy and in words.

#*(William Wordsworth) (1770-1850)

#*:That gives thy gestures grace and life .

#The most lively component or participant.

#*1970 , Mathuram Bhoothalingam, The finger on the lute: the story of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati, National Council of Educational Research and Training, p.87:

#*:"Don't I know that it is you who is the life of this house. Two delightful children!"

#*1998 , Monica F. Cohen, Professional domesticity in the Victorian novel: Women, work and home, Cambridge University Press, page 32:

#*:And he is the life of the party at the Musgroves for precisely this reason: the navy has made him into a great storyteller.

#Something which is inherently part of a person's existence, such as job, family, a loved one, etc.

#:

#(lb) Social life.

#:

#*

#*:It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

#A biography.

#:

#*(Conyers Middleton) (1683-1750)

#*:Writers of particular lives are apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject.

(lb) One of the player's chances to play, lost when a mistake is made.

: