lifern.
/ˈlʌɪfə/, U.S. /ˈlaɪfər/ slang.
1. A sentence of imprisonment or (formerly) transportation for life.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [noun] > course or span of life > prison sentence for life
life imprisonment1794
life sentence1817
lifer1825
life term1861
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [noun] > sentence or term of > life
life sentence1817
lifer1825
life1833
1825 Proc. Old Bailey 19 May 377/1 I said it was not me, and begged him to let me go; he said he would not, it should be a lifer for me; I do not know what he meant.
1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon II. ii. xi. 162 He got five-and-twenty years, which Joe said was as good as a lifer.
1927 Passing Show Summer 23/3 Kendal Brown, sorrowfully realising that this would mean a lifer for Bristola Birdseye, ducked his head.
1939 H. M. Tomlinson Day Before 28 He guessed he was in there for a lifer, because he'd never find that porch again.
1984 W. Deverell Dance Shiva (1986) xviii. 321 Wendell Joiner, doing a lifer for the Om Bay killings, gets his guts cut out in the laundry room.
2.
a. A person serving a sentence of imprisonment or (formerly) transportation for life.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prisoner > [noun] > long-timer > lifer
lifer1827
lifetimer1907
1827 Monitor (Sydney) 29 Oct. 728/1 As the law, affecting male Prisoners of the Crown now stands, ‘lifers’ have either a very remote, or as it regards 999 out of every thousand of them, no chance whatever of being permitted to marry.
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist III. xlii. 120 They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.
1872 M. E. Braddon To Bitter End III. 266 ‘I'm a lifer,’ said Richard grimly.
1921 O. F. Lewis in B. Williams O. Henry Prize Stories of 1921 (1922) 234 Old Man Anderson, the lifer, and Detroit Jim..lay panting side by side in the pitch-dark dugout.
1972 Daily Tel. 23 Feb. 15/6 (headline) Lifers hurl slates from jail roof.
2007 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Jan. 77/1 In Greece, however, a life term is limited to 25 years, and ‘lifers’ are eligible for parole after 16 years.
b. A person who is involved in something, esp. a career or job, for life (or a very long period of time), either through commitment and passion or because of a lack of impetus or ambition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [noun] > manner of life > specific > one who
liverc1405
living corpse1659
living dead1696
lifer1939
1939 L. D. White Introd. Study Public Admin. (rev. ed.) xix. 311 Most of the half million..federal employees under the merit system, are potentially careerists and not merely ‘lifers’.
1970 R. Thorp & R. Blake Music of their Laughter 181/2 The lifers—the career officers, the twenty- and thirty-year enlisted men—are the ones who stay clean.
1991 Bicycle Guide Sept. 16/2 A small group of cycling enthusiasts—lifers, just like you.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 25 June 10/2 But the bulk of the blue-suited ‘salarymen’ were lifers who believed they were safe as long as they sacrificed their freedom.
2002 Daily Tel. 13 Dec. 22/1 Marsh, a BBC lifer who formerly edited Radio 4's World At One and PM programmes.
3. British. A life peer.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > lord or lady > [noun] > peer or lord of parliament > whose title lapses at death
life peer1791
peer1869
lifer1893
1893 National Rev. Nov. 358 ‘Lifers’, as he [sc. Robert Lowe] nicknamed the proposed life peers on one occasion.
1959 Economist 31 Jan. 397/1 An infusion of ‘lifers'’ half blue blood.
1969 Sunday Tel. 30 Mar. 2/8 I will not..turn out for Lifers.
2005 E. Crewe Lords of Parliament vii. 110 I was advised, only half humorously, to put milk in tea first when sitting next to a lifer and second when beside a hereditary.
4. Originally U.S. In birdwatching: a species of bird which a person has never seen before and is a new addition to his or her life list (see life list n. at life n. Compounds 3); a sighting of such a bird.
ΚΠ
1958 Washington Post 26 Jan. c5/6 A beautiful bird with yellow plumage... It was a ‘lifer’ for my friend Wilmer.
1980 J. J. Harding & J. J. Harding Birding Delaware Valley Region 57 A coastal magnet for rarities, providing local birders..the excitement of unexpected ‘lifers’.
1992 Equinox Jan. 96/3 June..came half-expecting to get perhaps three or four ‘lifers’.
2005 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 8 Everything we saw was new for Jose: robin, dunnock, blackbird..all lifers!
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1825