Dictionary

livery en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈlɪv(ə)ɹi/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English livery, liveree, from Anglo-Norman liveree, from Old French livree. Compare modern French livrée.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Any distinctive identifying uniform worn by a group, such as the uniform worn by chauffeurs and male servants.
   • By wearing livery, the brewers publicly expressed guild association and solidarity. 1996, Judith M. Bennett, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600:
   • “I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]” 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
   • Going into the hall he saw a handsome groom, in a braided livery and a bear fur cape, holding a white fur cloak. 1901 [1878], chapter 19, in Constance Garnett, transl., Anna Karenina, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, part 4:
   • And while the moralist, who is holding forth on the cover ( an accurate portrait of your humble servant), professes to wear neither gown nor bands, but only the very same long-eared livery in which his congregation is arrayed: yet, look you, one is bound to speak the truth as far as one knows it, whether one mounts a cap and bells or a shovel hat; and a deal of disagreeable matter must come out in the course of such an undertaking. 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 8, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
   • The 35-year-old must adore this ground as this was his sixth strike in total here: four of these were previously in Manchester City livery, the other in that of Wolfsburg. 2021 April 29, Jamie Jackson, “Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes help Manchester United hit Roma for six”, in The Guardian:
2. (countable, uncountable) The whole body of liverymen, members of livery companies.
3. (countable, uncountable) The paint scheme of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles.
   • The glass fibre body has the advantage of lightness and obviates the need for painting as the material is self-coloured in the standard B.R. maroon livery. 1961 October, “Car carriage by rail - at home and abroad: 1. New B.R. "covered wagons"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 594:
   • The airline's new livery received a mixed reaction from the press.
   • The roads were jammed with matatu minibuses sporting cartoonish liveries, and trucks billowing black smoke into the dazzling African light. 2024 January 13, David Pilling, “Revenge of the moderators”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15:
4. (US, countable, uncountable) A taxicab or limousine.
5. (countable, uncountable) The delivery of property from one owner to the next.
6. (countable, uncountable) The writ by which property is obtained.
7. (countable, historical, uncountable) The rental of horses or carriages; the rental of canoes; the care and/or boarding of horses for money.
   • […] Pegasus does not stand at livery even at the largest establishment in Moorfields. 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Keats”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 305:
8. (countable, historical, uncountable) A stable that keeps horses or carriages for rental.
9. (countable, uncountable) An allowance of food; a ration, as given out to a family, to servants, to horses, etc.
   • The emperor's officers every night went through the town from house to house whereat any English gentleman did repast or lodge, and served their liveries for all night: first, the officers brought into the house a cast of fine manchet [white bread], and of silver two great post, and white wine, and sugar. 1825, George Cavendish, edited by Samuel Weller Singer, Life of Cardinal Wolsey:
10. (countable, uncountable) Release from wardship; deliverance.
    • It concerned them first to sue out their livery from the unjust wardship of his encroaching prerogative. 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
11. (countable, uncountable) A low grade of wool.
12. (countable, uncountable) Outward markings, fittings or appearance
    • When forty winters shall beseige thy brow, dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now, Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 2”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

servant out of livery · devil's livery · coign and livery · liverywoman · livery yard · relivery · sue one's livery · livery stable

Translations (48)

ru ливре́я (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · sv livré (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · uk лівре́я (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · cs livrej (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · bg ливре́я (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · pt libré (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · el στολή (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fi omaisuuden luovutus (legal: delivery of property) · it foggia (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · eo livreo (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · ga libhré (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · de Anstrich (paint scheme) · ga libhré (paint scheme) · fi livree (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fi kuosi (paint scheme) · pl liberia (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · id seragam kendaraan (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fi värit (paint scheme) · nl kleurstelling (paint scheme) · ga éide (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · hy սպասազգեստ (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · de Livree (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · mk ливре́ја (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · yi ליוורעע (paint scheme) · it livrea (paint scheme) · pl malowanie (paint scheme) · it livrea (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · es librea (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fr livrée (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · yi ליוורעע (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · ro livrea (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · hu libéria (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · tr livre (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · sh ливре́ја (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fi virka-asu (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · io livreo (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · sk livrej (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · hy լիվրե (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · sh livréja (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · fi luovutuskirja (legal: writ) · fr livrée (paint scheme) · sl livreja (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · ca lliurea (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · be ліўрэ́я (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · da liberi (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · nl livrei (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · nb livré (distinctive uniform worn by a group) · eo livreuloj (whole body of liverymen)

livery en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈlɪv(ə)ɹi/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English livery, liveree, from Anglo-Norman liveree, from Old French livree. Compare modern French livrée.

Meanings

1. (archaic, transitive) To clothe.
   • He liveried his servants in the most modest of clothing.

Forms

Translations (2)

fi vaatettaa (to clothe in) · fi pukea (to clothe in)

livery en · ADJ · etymology 2

Etymology

From Middle English *livery, from Old English lifriġ (“relating to the liver, livery”), equivalent to liver + -y.

Meanings

1. Like liver.
   • A second test was similar, but we brought the internal temperature up to 130 degrees; the texture was chewy, the meat tasted livery, and had not melted. 2010, Christopher Kimball, Fannie's Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer's 1896 Cookbook, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
   • Sulfur-containing compounds (thiols, sulfides, thiazoles, sulfur-substituted furans) can interact with carbonyl compounds to produce a livery flavor. 2010, Fidel Toldr, Handbook of Meat Processing, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 35:
   • We are happy for the chopped mushrooms within the warm goose liver paté, for the coarse, highly seasoned wedge has a robust livery flavour the 'shrooms manage to ease. 2004, Anne DesBrisay, Capital Dining: Anne DesBrisay's Guide to Ottawa Restaurants, ECW Press, →ISBN, page 19:
2. Queasy, liverish.
   • He woke feeling livery, and aware that he had overslept the morning. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 204:
   • To like everyone and to be happy with anyone was a virtue and its own reward, but I realized now that for weeks I had been feeling livery, impatient, restless. 2014, Emily Hahn, China to Me: A Partial Autobiography, Open Road Media, →ISBN:
   • The biliousness and livery feeling will disappear and the feeling of joy and happiness will be the reward. 2011, Dr Dorothy Shepherd, Homoeopathy For The First Aider, Random House, →ISBN, page 58:
   • He felt fresh and buoyant. When he was young, and had taken a siesta, he had felt livery for a couple of hours afterwards, with a tongue like a chicken run 2011, Alec Waugh, Fuel for the Flame, A&C Black, →ISBN:

Forms