One who, or that which, lives. [1913 Webster]
"And try if life be worth the liver's care." [1913 Webster]
A resident; a dweller; as, a liver in Brooklyn. [1913 Webster]
One whose course of life has some marked characteristic (expressed by an adjective); as, a free liver. [1913 Webster]

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.

liver, n. [AS. lifer; akin to D. liver, G. leber, OHG. lebara, Icel. lifr, Sw. lefver, and perh. to Gr. fat, E. live, v.].

A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral cavity of all vertebrates. [1913 Webster]

" 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 cæcal tubes, and differs materially, in form and function, from that of vertebrates." [1913 Webster]

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 (Zoöl.), 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; it is sometimes referred to as whale shark, but that name is more commonly used for the Rhincodon typus, which grows even larger. -- Liver spots, yellowish brown patches on the skin, or spots of chloasma.

liver, n.

The glossy ibis (Ibis falcinellus); -- said to have given its name to the city of Liverpool. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

liver, 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.

Idiom

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.

Derivative

liverless adj.

liver, n. a person who lives in a specified way (a clean liver).

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DEVIL DICTIONARY

liver

n. A large red organ thoughtfully provided by nature to be bilious with. The sentiments and emotions which every literary anatomist now knows to haunt the heart were anciently believed to infest the liver; and even Gascoygne, speaking of the emotional side of human nature, calls it "our hepaticall parte." It was at one time considered the seat of life; hence its name -- liver, the thing we live with. The liver is heaven's best gift to the goose; without it that bird would be unable to supply us with the Strasbourg _pate_.

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THESAURUS

liver

abatis, abdomen, absorption, anus, appendix, assimilation, bile, blind gut, bowels, brain, brains, cecum, chitterlings, cholangitis, cholecystitis, cirrhosis, cockscomb, colon, denizen, digestion, digestive system, duodenum, dweller, endocardium, entrails, foregut, gastric juice, gastrointestinal tract, giblets, gizzard, guts, haslet, heart, hepatitis, hepatoma, hindgut, icterus, infectious hepatitis, ingestion, innards, inner mechanism, insides, internals, intestinal juice, intestine, inwards, jaundice, jejunum, kidney, kidneys, kishkes, large intestine, liver and lights, lung, marrow, midgut, occupant, pancreas, pancreatic digestion, pancreatic juice, perineum, predigestion, pump, pylorus, rectum, resident, resider, saliva, salivary digestion, salivary glands, secondary digestion, serum hepatitis, small intestine, spleen, stomach, sweetbread, ticker, tongue, tripe, tripes, vermiform appendix, viscera, vitals, works

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