The True Meaning of "Livid"?

Bob Haas highbob at MINDSPRING.COM
Sat Aug 5 05:58:17 UTC 2000


Congratulations, Fred, a clear case of livid genius.  Seriously, your
research seems to indicate that livid is, if not all things, several
different things to many different people.

Livid kudos,

bob

> From: Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 10:57:54 -0400
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: The True Meaning of "Livid"?
>
> Is it possible that "livid" has been
> used for centuries as an intensifier, that a livid red is an intense red,
> a livid gray is a very pale gray, etc.?  How else to explain a word whose
> etymological roots relate to blue, but which has been strongly associated
> with anger, with fear, and with death?



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