lifer

life +‎ -er

• Rhymes: -aɪfə(r)

lifer (plural lifers)

1. A prisoner sentenced to life in prison.
2. A prisoner sentenced to transportation for life.
   • Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

     They know what a clever lad he is; he'll be a lifer. They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.

3. A person with a singular career path, especially in the military.
   • 2002, Paul Newman, Nine From The Ninth, iUniverse (→ISBN), page 17

     LRRP planned to become “career” Army, i.e., a lifer, you kept that quiet. Basic LRRP theology said the Army sucked and that philosophy kept one from going crazy because, at the bottom, nothing about the war seemed to make sense anyway. The LRRP's considered a lifer a loser. Being a lifer implied one had no other options available. Every LRRP had his own stories about back home: about family, friends, lovers, opportunities, dreams and a future. These were mostly fantasy, but […]

   • 2005, J. M. Coutts, As the Beacon Turns, Trafford Publishing (→ISBN), page 392

     In the early years of EMS, the term lifer was an entitlement pinned to anyone who had worked the road for ten years or longer with no real plans of seeking a replacement trade. It was a term that was generally delivered in a respectful and lighthearted teasing manner by someone who by all definitions could have easily been described as a lifer himself—with the exception of one drawback. So far, the crews didn't know anyone who had worked in the field for ten years, much less longer […]

4. (birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.
   • 2013, Sue Taylor, Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia

     I saw six species of honeyeaters new to me and went home with 16 lifers and some bad sandfly bites.

• (bird species): life bird

• (bird species): life list

• Filer, Friel, filer, flier, rifle

From Proto-Germanic *librō, Cognate with Old Frisian livere (West Frisian lever), Old Saxon levara, Dutch lever, Old High German lebara (German Leber), Old Norse lifr (Swedish lever).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlifer/, [ˈliver]

lifer f

1. liver (interior organ)

• Middle English: liver, livere
  • English: liver