See for dear life on Wiktionary
{
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"expansion": "for dear life (not comparable)",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adv",
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"kind": "other",
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{
"ref": "1896, Jacob A. Riis, Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City, published 1970, →ISBN:",
"text": "Paolo sat crosslegged on his bench, stitching away for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:",
"text": "As they passed, accelerating, on to the bridge and felt the first bite of the incline beyond, one had a fleeting glimpse of driver and fireman, illumined as by the fires of hell, the one tugging at the regulator handle, the other shovelling for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "2000 March 12, Stuart Barnes, “Swindon stunner for Curbishley”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
"text": "After 12 successive league wins[…]Charlton were nobbled by the First Division's no-hopers, who profited from a goalkeeping bloomer then held on to their lead for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2005, Mary Jane McKinney, Grammardog Guide to Conrad Short Stories, →ISBN, page 27:",
"text": "I remember the heat, the deluge of rain-squalls that kept us baling for dear life (but filled our water cask), and I remember sixteen hours on end with a mouth dry as a cinder and a steering oar over the stern to keep my first command head on to a breaking sea.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Girl's Soul, →ISBN:",
"text": "We want you to see that these years can be a rollercoaster ride where sometimes you have to hang on for dear life—but you will come through it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Jillian Carmichael, Middle School Crazy, →ISBN, page 1:",
"text": "Each morning you get in the roller coaster car, strap yourself in, and hold on for dear life hoping you won't throw up or pass out.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39:",
"text": "Then came the collision: it was \"like a rollercoaster ride\" and she held onto the table in front of her \"for dear life. Then it just stopped and all I could hear was people screaming.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Desperately."
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"id": "en-for_dear_life-en-adv-y9xy6EoY",
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"word": "life and limb"
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"word": "risk life and limb"
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{
"word": "to save one's life"
}
],
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{
"word": "for life"
}
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"not-comparable"
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],
"word": "for dear life"
}
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"pos": "adv",
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"word": "life and limb"
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1896, Jacob A. Riis, Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City, published 1970, →ISBN:",
"text": "Paolo sat crosslegged on his bench, stitching away for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1953 December, Henry Maxwell, “The Folkestone Harbour Branch: Some Evocations”, in Railway Magazine, page 809:",
"text": "As they passed, accelerating, on to the bridge and felt the first bite of the incline beyond, one had a fleeting glimpse of driver and fireman, illumined as by the fires of hell, the one tugging at the regulator handle, the other shovelling for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2000 March 12, Stuart Barnes, “Swindon stunner for Curbishley”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
"text": "After 12 successive league wins[…]Charlton were nobbled by the First Division's no-hopers, who profited from a goalkeeping bloomer then held on to their lead for dear life.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2005, Mary Jane McKinney, Grammardog Guide to Conrad Short Stories, →ISBN, page 27:",
"text": "I remember the heat, the deluge of rain-squalls that kept us baling for dear life (but filled our water cask), and I remember sixteen hours on end with a mouth dry as a cinder and a steering oar over the stern to keep my first command head on to a breaking sea.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Girl's Soul, →ISBN:",
"text": "We want you to see that these years can be a rollercoaster ride where sometimes you have to hang on for dear life—but you will come through it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Jillian Carmichael, Middle School Crazy, →ISBN, page 1:",
"text": "Each morning you get in the roller coaster car, strap yourself in, and hold on for dear life hoping you won't throw up or pass out.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39:",
"text": "Then came the collision: it was \"like a rollercoaster ride\" and she held onto the table in front of her \"for dear life. Then it just stopped and all I could hear was people screaming.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Desperately."
],
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"desperately"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "for life"
}
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],
"word": "for dear life"
}
Download raw JSONL data for for dear life meaning in All languages combined (2.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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