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  1. lief love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. Readily; willingly: I would as lief go now as later.
  2. adj. Archaic Beloved; dear.
  3. adj. Archaic Ready or willing.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Beloved; pleasing; agreeable.
  2. Inclined; disposed; willing; having a preference.
  3. n. One beloved; a darling.
  4. Gladly; willingly. Lief is peculiarly used (originally an adjective) in the constructions to have as lief, to have liefer (had as lief, had liefer or liever), etc. See under have.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. archaic beloved, dear, agreeable
  2. adj. archaic willing
  3. adv. archaic Readily, willingly.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Same as lif.
  2. adj. Obs., except in poetry. Dear; beloved.
  3. adj. obsolete Pleasing; agreeable; acceptable; preferable.
  4. adj. obsolete Willing; disposed.
  5. n. obsolete A dear one; a sweetheart.
  6. adv. Gladly; willingly; freely; -- now used only in the phrases, had as lief, and would as lief.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adv. in a willing manner

Etymologies

  1. From Old English lēof, from Proto-Germanic *leubaz, whence Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐍆𐌿𐍃 (liufs). Cognate with Dutch lief, German lieb, Russian любовь (ljubóv’), Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk ljuv. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English leve, lef, dear, willingly, from Old English lēof, dear; see leubh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (12)

Words with the same meaning

  1. dear
  2. beloved
  1. pleasing
  2. agreeable
  1. acceptable
  2. preferable
  1. willing
  2. disposed
  1. sweetheart
  2. gladly
  1. willingly
  2. freely

same context (18)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. lieve
  2. prithee
  3. thou'lt
  1. sponsibility
  2. to
  3. 'twill
  1. you
  2. ’twould
  3. wont
  1. spect
  2. youll
  3. covery
  1. 're
  2. corder
  3. doesnt
  1. would
  2. 'to
  3. shouldst

rhymes (25)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Leif
  2. aperitif
  3. bas-relief
  4. beef
  5. belief
  1. brief
  2. chief
  3. debrief
  4. disbelief
  5. fief
  1. grief
  2. keef
  3. kief
  4. leaf
  5. massif
  1. motif
  2. reef
  3. reif
  4. relief
  5. rief
  1. saif
  2. seif
  3. sharif
  4. sheaf
  5. thief

reverse dictionary (12)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. lieve
  2. lief
  1. leef
  2. leve
  1. lefe
  2. leof
  1. to be lever than
  2. lever
  1. lover
  2. liever
  1. as
  2. soon

tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘lief’

  1. lieve

Wordmap

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Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘lief’.

Comments

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  • john I be lief this word is not used much anymore. Feb 25, 2010

  • bilby "FIRST and SECOND SERVANT: What, what, what? let's partake.
    THIRD SERVANT: I would not be a Roman, of all nations; I had as lief be a condemned man."
    - William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'. Aug 28, 2009

  • minerva See also lieve. Jan 4, 2008

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‘lief’ has been looked up 3906 times, loved by 3 people, added to 17 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 7.