Adjacent Words

Liver definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LIV'ER, n. One who lives.
And try if life be worth the liver's care.
It is often used with a word of qualification; as a high liver; a loose liver, etc.
LIV'ER, n.
A viscus or intestine of considerable size and of a reddish color, convex on the anterior and superior side, and of an unequal surface on the inferior and posterior side. It is situated under the false ribs, in the right hypochondrium. It consists of two lobes, of a glandular substance, and destined for the secretion of the bile.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having a reddish-brown color [syn: liver-colored, liver] n
1: large and complicated reddish-brown glandular organ located in the upper right portion of the abdominal cavity; secretes bile and functions in metabolism of protein and carbohydrate and fat; synthesizes substances involved in the clotting of the blood; synthesizes vitamin A; detoxifies poisonous substances and breaks down worn-out erythrocytes
2: liver of an animal used as meat
3: a person who has a special life style; "a high liver"
4: someone who lives in a place; "a liver in cities"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lifer; akin to Old High German lebra liver Date: before 12th century 1. a. a large very vascular glandular organ of vertebrates that secretes bile and causes important changes in many of the substances contained in the blood (as by converting sugars into glycogen which it stores up until required and by forming urea) b. any of various large compound glands associated with the digestive tract of invertebrate animals and probably concerned with the secretion of digestive enzymes 2. archaic a determinant of the quality or temper of a man 3. the liver of an animal (as a calf or chicken) eaten as food 4. a grayish reddish brown — called also liver brown, liver maroon II. noun Date: 14th century 1. one that lives especially in a specified way <a fast liver> 2. resident

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a a large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates, functioning in many metabolic processes including the regulation of toxic materials in the blood, secreting bile, etc. b a similar organ in other animals. 2 the flesh of an animal's liver as food. 3 (in full liver-colour) a dark reddish-brown. Phrases and idioms: liver chestnut see CHESTNUT. liver fluke either of two types of fluke, esp. Fasciola hepatica, the adults of which live within the liver tissues of vertebrates, and the larvae within snails. liver of sulphur a liver-coloured mixture of potassium sulphides etc., used as a lotion in skin disease. liver salts Brit. salts to cure dyspepsia or biliousness. liver sausage a sausage containing cooked liver etc. Derivatives: liverless adj. Etymology: OE lifer f. Gmc 2. n. a person who lives in a specified way (a clean liver).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Liver Liv"er, n. 1. One who, or that which, lives. And try if life be worth the liver's care. --Prior. 2. A resident; a dweller; as, a liver in Brooklyn. 3. One whose course of life has some marked characteristic (expressed by an adjective); as, a free liver. Fast liver, one who lives in an extravagant and dissipated way. Free liver, Good liver, one given to the pleasures of the table. Loose liver, a person who lives a somewhat dissolute life.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Liver Liv"er, n. [AS. lifer; akin to D. liver, G. leber, OHG. lebara, Icel. lifr, Sw. lefver, and perh. to Gr. ? fat, E. live, v.] (Anat.) A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral cavity of all vertebrates. Note: Most of the venous blood from the alimentary canal passes through it on its way back to the heart; and it secretes the bile, produces glycogen, and in other ways changes the blood which passes through it. In man it is situated immediately beneath the diaphragm and mainly on the right side. See Bile, Digestive, and Glycogen. The liver of invertebrate animals is usually made up of c[ae]cal tubes, and differs materially, in form and function, from that of vertebrates. Floating liver. See Wandering liver, under Wandering. Liver of antimony, Liver of sulphur. (Old Chem.) See Hepar. Liver brown, Liver color, the color of liver, a dark, reddish brown. Liver shark (Zo["o]l.), a very large shark (Cetorhinus maximus), inhabiting the northern coasts both of Europe and North America. It sometimes becomes forty feet in length, being one of the largest sharks known; but it has small simple teeth, and is not dangerous. It is captured for the sake of its liver, which often yields several barrels of oil. It has gill rakers, resembling whalebone, by means of which it separates small animals from the sea water. Called also basking shark, bone shark, hoemother, homer, and sailfish

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Liver Liv"er, n. (Zo["o]l.) The glossy ibis (Ibis falcinellus); -- said to have given its name to the city of Liverpool.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(livers) 1. Your liver is a large organ in your body which processes your blood and helps to clean unwanted substances out of it. N-COUNT 2. Liver is the liver of some animals, especially lambs, pigs, and cows, which is cooked and eaten. ...grilled calves' liver. N-VAR

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the heaviest of the viscera, Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was burnt upon the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezek. 21:21 there is allusion, in the statement that the king of Babylon "looked upon the liver," to one of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the LXX. and Josephus understood "the liver of goats." By the "caul above the liver," in Lev. 4:9; 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the liver itself.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

liv'-er (qabhedh, derived from a root meaning "to be heavy," being the heaviest of the viscera; Septuagint hepar): The word is usually joined with the Hebrew yothereth (see CAUL) (Ex 29:13,22; Le 9:10,19) as a special portion set aside for the burnt offering.

This represents the large lobe or flap of the liver, Lobos tou hepatos (thus, Septuagint and Josephus, Ant, III, ix, 2, (228)). Others, however, interpret it as the membrane which covers the upper part of the liver, sometimes called the "lesser omenturn." Thus, the Vulgate: reticulurn iecoris. It extends from the fissures of the liver to the curve of the stomach. Still others consider it to be the "fatty mass at the opening of the liver, which reaches to the kidneys and becomes visible upon the removal of the lesser omentum or membrane" (Driver and White, Leviticus, 65).

As in the scholastic psychology of the Middle Ages, the liver played an important part in the science of Semitic peoples. It was the seat of feeling, and thus became synonymous with temper, disposition, character (compare Assyrian kabittu, "liver", "temper," "character," and Arabic kabid, vulgar kibdi). Thus, Jeremiah expresses his profound grief with the words: "My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people" (La 2:11). The liver is also considered one of the most important and vital parts of the body (compare Virgil, cerebrum, iecur domicilia vitae). A hurt in it is equivalent to death. So we find the fate of a man enticed by the flattering of a loose woman compared to that of the ox that "goeth to the slaughter .... till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life" (Pr 7:22,23; the rest of the verse is obscure as to its meaning).

In a few passages of the Old Testament, kabhedh ("liver") and kabhodh ("glory") have been confounded, and we are in uncertainty as to the right translation Several authors, to give but one example, would read kabhedh in Ps 16:9, for reasons of Hebrew poetical parallelism: "Therefore my heart is glad and my liver (English Versions of the Bible, "glory") rejoiceth." While this is quite possible, it is not easy to decide, as according to Jewish interpretation "my glory" is synonymous with "my soul," which would present as proper a parallelism.

The liver has always played an important role in heathen divination, of which we have many examples in old and modern times among the Greeks, Etrurians, Romans and now among African tribes. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a Biblical instance. The king of Babylon, who had been seeking to find out whether he should attack Jerusalem, inquired by shaking "arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver" (Eze 21:21 (Hebrew 21:26); compare Tobit 6:4 ff; 8:2).

See ASTROLOGY, 3; DIVINATION.

H. L. E. Luering

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