lifer

English

Etymology

life +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪfə(r)

Noun

lifer (plural lifers)

1. A prisoner sentenced to life in prison.
2. A prisoner sentenced to transportation for life.
   • Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

     They know what a clever lad he is; he'll be a lifer. They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.

3. A person with a singular career path, especially in the military.
   • 2002, Paul Newman, Nine From The Ninth, iUniverse (→ISBN), page 17

     LRRP planned to become “career” Army, i.e., a lifer, you kept that quiet. Basic LRRP theology said the Army sucked and that philosophy kept one from going crazy because, at the bottom, nothing about the war seemed to make sense anyway. The LRRP's considered a lifer a loser. Being a lifer implied one had no other options available. Every LRRP had his own stories about back home: about family, friends, lovers, opportunities, dreams and a future. These were mostly fantasy, but […]

   • 2005, J. M. Coutts, As the Beacon Turns, Trafford Publishing (→ISBN), page 392

     In the early years of EMS, the term lifer was an entitlement pinned to anyone who had worked the road for ten years or longer with no real plans of seeking a replacement trade. It was a term that was generally delivered in a respectful and lighthearted teasing manner by someone who by all definitions could have easily been described as a lifer himself—with the exception of one drawback. So far, the crews didn't know anyone who had worked in the field for ten years, much less longer […]

   • 2018, Adrian Dater, 100 Things Rockies Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die:

     He was a baseball lifer, a seamhead through and through, who just absolutely liked nothing better than sitting down and talking baseball.

4. (birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.
   • 2013, Sue Taylor, Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia:

     I saw six species of honeyeaters new to me and went home with 16 lifers and some bad sandfly bites.

Synonyms

• (bird species): life bird

Translations

prisoner sentenced to life in prison

• Finnish: elinkautisvanki
• German: Lebenslänglicher m, Lebenslängliche f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 囚人 (ja) (shūjin)
• Swedish: livstidsfånge (sv) c

person who makes a career in the military

• Finnish: kantapeikko (fi)
• German: Berufssoldat (de) m, Berufssoldatin (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: trotjänare c

bird species

• Catalan: bimbo m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: uusi bongaus, elämänpinna

See also

• (bird species): life list

Anagrams

• Filer, Friel, filer, flier, rifle

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.fer/, [ˈli.ver]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *librō, Cognate with Old Frisian livere (West Frisian lever), Old Saxon levara, Dutch lever, Old High German lebara (German Leber), Old Norse lifr (Swedish lever).

Noun

lifer f

1. liver (interior organ)

Declension

Declension of lifer (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	lifer	lifra, lifre
accusative	lifre	lifra, lifre
genitive	lifre	lifra
dative	lifre	lifrum

Descendants

• Middle English: liver, livere
  • English: liver

Etymology 2

Noun

lifer f

1. Alternative form of læfer (“reed, rush”)

Declension

Declension of lifer (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	lifer	lifra, lifre
accusative	lifre	lifra, lifre
genitive	lifre	lifra
dative	lifre	lifrum