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Liven   Listen
verb
liven  v. t.  To make lively; sometimes used with up; as, to liven up the party with some music.
Synonyms: enliven, liven up, make lively, invigorate, animate.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Liven" Quotes from Famous Books



... asked himself. Seven, at the latest. That meant eight long hours of agony, before anything happened! That is what the wounded love and long for—something to happen—something to distract the attention from the slow, insistent pain—something to liven drooping spirits, and raise ...
— "Contemptible" • "Casualty"

... empty, and I don't know what to do. The world is against me—even France. I see but one thing left. Do you think I could restore confidence by divorcing Marie-Louise and remarrying Josephine? It strikes me that an annual shaking-up of that nature would sort of liven matters up. ...
— Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica • John Kendrick Bangs

... vague little laugh. "I shall probably hate it myself when I get there," he speculated. "There isn't anybody I want to see—there isn't anything I want to do. I don' t know—perhaps it might liven me up." ...
— The Market-Place • Harold Frederic

... you need," said the mother, gravely, "is to liven up a little and take an interest in things. That's what papa was sayin' this morning, after we got your telegram; and that's what'll stimilate your appetite, too. He was talkin' ...
— The Turmoil - A Novel • Booth Tarkington

... we a full-grown man wid us, as me dad said whin he inthrodooced me to his friends at Donnybrook, I being 'liven years old? Begorra, I'm thinking we haven't any ...
— The Launch Boys' Adventures in Northern Waters • Edward S. Ellis

... of you. I'll jest sit here and be talking to Mr. Street, as you might say. Wouldn't that make a good picture—kinder liven up the porch if we're ...
— The Sheriff's Son • William MacLeod Raine

... bringin' everything with it it could bring; houses, bahns, chicken coops and a plentiful sprinklin' of human bein's, to liven up things a little. A cyclone ain't very particular, any more than a peccary. It snatches up anything that comes handy. Sometimes it picks up a few knives and whacks things with them as it goes along. You ...
— The Way of the Wind • Zoe Anderson Norris

... might liven things up. These blasted tribal ceremonies need a cabaret attachment to jazz them ...
— Lady Luck • Hugh Wiley

... No voice o' friend or foe Can reach me now, or any liven been; And little have I power to know Since ...
— Wessex Poems and Other Verses • Thomas Hardy

... was looked upon as something very solemn, and it was mighty seldom that anybody ever heard of a married couple trying to get separated. Now it's different. When a preacher married a couple, you didn't see any hard liquor around, but just a little light wine to liven up the wedding feast. If they were married by a justice of the peace, look out, there was plenty of wine and," here his voice was ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Georgia Narratives, Part 4 • Works Projects Administration

... wife is coming," protested Mr. Blithers, "and Pericault's cousins. Certainly you must come. Jolly little affair to liven us ...
— The Prince of Graustark • George Barr McCutcheon

... hatched, the caterpillar is full grown, and hangs itself up as a chrysalis under some sheltering board or rail. In two weeks more, the wonderful event takes place, the perfect Butterfly comes forth; and there is another Mourning-cloak to liven the roadside, and amaze ...
— Woodland Tales • Ernest Seton-Thompson

... would have told you if it had been. I am rather overworked and tired, that is all. It has been a very heavy winter of illness and anxiety. I shall be better now the spring has come, and I have you all home to liven me up. We must try and give Pamela a happy time, and you must take her to all ...
— Kitty Trenire • Mabel Quiller-Couch

... changeless, unfathomed silence, in which nothing new came day or night to break the fettering spell his mind was falling under, the clink and knocking of bottles was good to hear, and he listened for more, craving any sound that might liven or distract his haunted spirit. Instead of the sun and stars, here was a roof; instead of the pitiless clear air, here was tobacco smoke; and beneath his boot-heels a wooden floor wet with spilled liquids instead of the unwatered crumbling sand. Without drinking, he moved his chair ...
— Red Men and White • Owen Wister

... company might liven up the trip," observed the seaman, looking like a schoolboy who had sprung a surprise on his teacher. "Ain't you going to welcome 'em? You'll find their name on the roster, and they brought ...
— Captain Pott's Minister • Francis L. Cooper

... Gunnersbury that had a better show of flowers, and when they took her to the place where the water is, under the trees, she burst out with its being rather hard to tramp her off her legs to show her a common canal, with not so much as a barge on it to liven it up a bit. She went on like that the whole day, and Alice told me she was only too thankful to get home and get rid of her. Wasn't it wretched ...
— The House of Souls • Arthur Machen

... than all the rest in the swing, and could even make Chinese shadows. No one could amuse children better; and he would gladly spend the whole day looking after them. When he started laughing, the whole house would seem to liven up; they would answer him—one would say one thing, one another, but he always made them all merry.... And even if they abused him, they could not but laugh. Ivan danced marvellously, especially the so-called 'fish dance.' When the chorus struck ...
— A Desperate Character and Other Stories • Ivan Turgenev

... horses," said Silas, after he had greeted Miss Pinckney. "No, sir, I did not leave any of the doors open, but I've been looking for Sam with a blacksnake whip to liven him up. He left the grey without grooming after she was brought in this morning, and I was rubbing her down myself when this ...
— The Ghost Girl • H. De Vere Stacpoole

... variety of chemical odors, and vitiated by its recent loss of oxygen, had begun to freshen and purify itself in an astonishing manner. One would have thought that through an open window, close at hand, the purest ocean breeze was blowing. A faint tinge of color began to liven the somewhat pasty cheek of the Billionaire. Waldron's big chest expanded and his eye brightened. Even the meek Herzog stood straighter and looked more the man, under the stimulus of ...
— The Air Trust • George Allan England



Words linked to "Liven" :   pep up, spirit, animate, perk up, inspirit, invigorate, arouse, spirit up, stimulate, enliven, ginger up, liven up, juice up



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