What does "living" mean?

Living: Active; lively; vigorous; -- said esp. of states of the mind , and sometimes of abstract things; as, a living faith; a living principle. " Living hope. " Wyclif.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Issuing continually from the earth; running; flowing; as, a living spring; -- opposed to stagnant.
  2. 3.Producing life, action, animation, or vigor; quickening. " Living light." Shak.
  3. 4.Ignited; glowing with heat; burning; live. Then on the living coals wine they pour. Dryden. Living force. See Vis viva, under Vis. -- Living gale (Naut.), a heavy gale. Living rock or stone, rock in its native or original state or location; rock not quarried. " I now found myself on a rude and narrow stairway, the steps of which were cut of the living rock." Moore. -- The living, those who are alive, or one who is alive.
  4. 5.The state of one who, or that which, lives; lives; life; existence. "Health and living." Shak.
  5. 6.Manner of life; as, riotous living; penurious living; earnest living. " A vicious living." Chaucer.
  6. 7.Means of subsistence; sustenance; estate. She can spin for her living. Shak. He divided unto them his living. Luke xv.
  7. 8.4. Power of continuing life; the act of living, or living comfortably. There is no living without trusting somebody or other in some cases. L' Estrange.
  8. 9.The benefice of a clergyman; an ecclesiastical charge which a minister receives. [Eng.] He could not get a deanery, a prebend, or even a living Macaulay. Livng room, the room most used by the family.

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