lives

cat has nine lives

Prov. Cats can survive things that are severe enough to kill them. (You can also refer to a particular cat's nine lives.) Jill: My cat fell off a third-floor balcony and just walked away. How can he do that? Jane: A cat has nine lives. I think my cat used up one of her nine lives when she survived being hit by that car.

See also: cat, has, nine

Half the world knows not how the other half lives.

Prov. You cannot understand what life is like for people who are different from you.; Often, rich people do not know what it is like to be poor, and poor people do not know what it is like to be rich. Until he spent school vacation at his friend Richard's country home, Jim was never aware that some people do not have to work for a living. He discovered that half the world knows not how the other half lives. Bill decided to dress in secondhand clothes and spend the weekend among the homeless men in the warehouse district, to see how the other half lives.

See also: half, how, know, other, world

He lives long who lives well.

Prov. If you live virtuously, you will have a long life; a person who does not live virtuously is wasting his life. The pastor, exhorting his congregation to live moral lives, said, "He lives long who lives well."

See also: long, well, who

hit one where one lives and hit one close to home

Fig. to affect one personally and intimately. Her comments really hit me where I live. Her words seemed to apply directly to me. I listened carefully and didn't think she hit close to home at all.

See also: hit, one

how the other half lives

Fig. how poorer people live; how richer people live. Now that I am bankrupt I am beginning to understand how the other half lives. Most people don't care how the other half lives.

See also: half, how, other

reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall

Prov. An insignificant, flexible person is more likely not to get hurt in a crisis than a prominent or rigid person. Our office has new managers now; I plan to be as inconspicuous as possible while they reorganize everyone. A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.

See also: before, fall, mighty, oak, reed, wind

where someone lives

Inf. at one's core; in one's personal situation. That really hits you where you live, doesn't it? Yes, that gets me where I live.

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how the other half lives

how people who are much richer than you live their lives As the popularity of such magazines testify, people are always curious to see how the other half lives. 'They spend two or three months of the summer on a luxury yacht in the south of France.' 'How the other half lives!'

See also: half, how, other

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how the other half lives

the kind of existence other people who have much more or much less money A visit to this largely Hispanic neighborhood will give the senator an idea of how the other half lives. Well-educated social workers know all too well how the other half lives in desperately poor circumstances.

See also: half, how, other