"life of Riley" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Originated in the US c. 1902 (using the spelling \"Reilly\"). Popularized during World War I. Earlier origin unknown; various theories exist.\nDetails\nPopularized in and immediately after World War I in both Britain and America, due to troops mixing in wartime. Attested in 1918 in letters home by American servicemen, with post-war British usage popularized by song “My Name is Kelly” (1919), by Harry Pease, featuring the lines:\n: Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,\n: But I’m living the life of Reilly just the same.\nWorld War I spread possibly connected with the popularity of the song “Are You the O’Reilly?”, which featured a wealthy man living a life of comfort. The song was originally written in 1883 as “Is that Mr. Reilly?” by Pat Rooney Senior (1847–1892), a vaudeville performer, and featured an Irish character, then revived and adapted as a war song in 1915 by American P. Emmett with essentially the same lyrics, and as a British war song in the same year by Elwyn Yorke, with changed lyrics and an Australian character. The chorus runs:\n: Is that Mister Reilly, can anyone tell?\n: Is that Mister Reilly that owns the hotel?\n: Well, if that’s Mister Reilly they speak of so highly,\n: Upon me soul, Reilly, you’re doing quite well.\nThis proved very popular among troops, and may have influenced the spread.\nVarious theories of origin prior to this exist. The name is ultimately from the Ó Raghallaigh clan, and is one of the most common surnames in Ireland, ranking 8th in 1890, and Anglicized variously as O'Reilly, Reilly, and Riley. Due to its commonness, there is a high possibility of unrelated coincidences, and ultimate origin is hard to determine. In addition to the above song (from the 1883 version), another proposed origin is a different song “The Best in the House is None Too Good for Reilly” (1897), by Charles E. Lawlor and James W. Blake (origin proposed by H. L. Mencken), featuring the line:\n: He’s money for to pay,\n: So they let him have his way,\n: The best in the house is none too good for Reilly.\nOther theories include the influence of the idyllic art of James Whitcomb Riley, or the historic wealth of the Ó Raghallaigh clan, due to their rule of East Breifne (present County Cavan) from the 12th century to early 17th century – see Kingdom of Breifne.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "life of Riley",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Russian terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1902 June 24, “Not the \"Life of Reilly\"”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 8",
          "text": "It's the life of Reilly, but we're not stuck on it at that [...] If I stay her doing this sort of work for another week I won't be fit to work all summer, for I'm getting lazier every day",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909 July 30, “\"Wanderlust\" Gripped Mike: Thirteen-year-old Italian Boy Found by Brother Yesterday”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 1",
          "text": "Michael, according to his own story, had \"been living the life of Riley\" ever since he bolted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, “Bullet Ends Life of Famous Wild Cow”, The Hartford Courant, December 1911",
          "text": "The famous wild cow of Cromwell is no more. After “living the life of Riley” for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Alexander Woollcott, The Command is Forward: Tales of the A.E.F. Battlefields, page 257",
          "text": "This is the story of the softships of the Third American Army. For the Yankee troops who were assigned to take and hold the Coblenz bridgehead are leading the life of Riley on the Rhine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919 “My Name is Kelly”, Harry Pease",
          "text": "Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,\nBut I’m living the life of Reilly just the same."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment."
      ],
      "id": "en-life_of_Riley-en-noun-OI9ls4gR",
      "links": [
        [
          "ideal",
          "ideal"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
          "carefree",
          "carefree"
        ],
        [
          "prosperity",
          "prosperity"
        ],
        [
          "luxurious",
          "luxurious"
        ],
        [
          "contentment",
          "contentment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated) An ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "life of O'Reilly"
        },
        {
          "word": "life of Reilly"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "安逸的生活"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "无忧无虑的日子"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "luizenleventje"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "kissanpäivät"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "herran elämä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "vie de Cocagne"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "vie de coq-en-pâte"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "vie de château"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "wie Gott in Frankreich leben"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "zoḯ kai kóta",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "ζωή και κότα"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "vita da nababbo"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "vita da gran signore"
        },
        {
          "alt": "ひだりうちわ",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "hidari-uchiwa",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "左団扇"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "życie jak w Madrycie"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kak syr v másle katátʹsja",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "как сыр в ма́сле ката́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kak u tjóšči na pečí",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "как у тёщи на печи́"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "vida de Jauja"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
          "word": "vidorra"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "County Cavan",
        "East Breifne",
        "H. L. Mencken",
        "James Whitcomb Riley",
        "Kingdom of Breifne",
        "Michael Quinion",
        "O'Reilly",
        "Reilly",
        "Riley",
        "war song",
        "Ó Raghallaigh"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈlaɪf əv ˈɹaɪ.li/",
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-life of Riley.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/77/En-au-life_of_Riley.ogg/En-au-life_of_Riley.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/En-au-life_of_Riley.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  ],
  "word": "life of Riley"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Originated in the US c. 1902 (using the spelling \"Reilly\"). Popularized during World War I. Earlier origin unknown; various theories exist.\nDetails\nPopularized in and immediately after World War I in both Britain and America, due to troops mixing in wartime. Attested in 1918 in letters home by American servicemen, with post-war British usage popularized by song “My Name is Kelly” (1919), by Harry Pease, featuring the lines:\n: Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,\n: But I’m living the life of Reilly just the same.\nWorld War I spread possibly connected with the popularity of the song “Are You the O’Reilly?”, which featured a wealthy man living a life of comfort. The song was originally written in 1883 as “Is that Mr. Reilly?” by Pat Rooney Senior (1847–1892), a vaudeville performer, and featured an Irish character, then revived and adapted as a war song in 1915 by American P. Emmett with essentially the same lyrics, and as a British war song in the same year by Elwyn Yorke, with changed lyrics and an Australian character. The chorus runs:\n: Is that Mister Reilly, can anyone tell?\n: Is that Mister Reilly that owns the hotel?\n: Well, if that’s Mister Reilly they speak of so highly,\n: Upon me soul, Reilly, you’re doing quite well.\nThis proved very popular among troops, and may have influenced the spread.\nVarious theories of origin prior to this exist. The name is ultimately from the Ó Raghallaigh clan, and is one of the most common surnames in Ireland, ranking 8th in 1890, and Anglicized variously as O'Reilly, Reilly, and Riley. Due to its commonness, there is a high possibility of unrelated coincidences, and ultimate origin is hard to determine. In addition to the above song (from the 1883 version), another proposed origin is a different song “The Best in the House is None Too Good for Reilly” (1897), by Charles E. Lawlor and James W. Blake (origin proposed by H. L. Mencken), featuring the line:\n: He’s money for to pay,\n: So they let him have his way,\n: The best in the house is none too good for Reilly.\nOther theories include the influence of the idyllic art of James Whitcomb Riley, or the historic wealth of the Ó Raghallaigh clan, due to their rule of East Breifne (present County Cavan) from the 12th century to early 17th century – see Kingdom of Breifne.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "life of Riley",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English eponyms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Russian terms with redundant script codes"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1902 June 24, “Not the \"Life of Reilly\"”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 8",
          "text": "It's the life of Reilly, but we're not stuck on it at that [...] If I stay her doing this sort of work for another week I won't be fit to work all summer, for I'm getting lazier every day",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909 July 30, “\"Wanderlust\" Gripped Mike: Thirteen-year-old Italian Boy Found by Brother Yesterday”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 1",
          "text": "Michael, according to his own story, had \"been living the life of Riley\" ever since he bolted.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, “Bullet Ends Life of Famous Wild Cow”, The Hartford Courant, December 1911",
          "text": "The famous wild cow of Cromwell is no more. After “living the life of Riley” for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Alexander Woollcott, The Command is Forward: Tales of the A.E.F. Battlefields, page 257",
          "text": "This is the story of the softships of the Third American Army. For the Yankee troops who were assigned to take and hold the Coblenz bridgehead are leading the life of Riley on the Rhine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919 “My Name is Kelly”, Harry Pease",
          "text": "Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly,\nBut I’m living the life of Reilly just the same."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ideal",
          "ideal"
        ],
        [
          "life",
          "life"
        ],
        [
          "carefree",
          "carefree"
        ],
        [
          "prosperity",
          "prosperity"
        ],
        [
          "luxurious",
          "luxurious"
        ],
        [
          "contentment",
          "contentment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, dated) An ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "County Cavan",
        "East Breifne",
        "H. L. Mencken",
        "James Whitcomb Riley",
        "Kingdom of Breifne",
        "Michael Quinion",
        "O'Reilly",
        "Reilly",
        "Riley",
        "war song",
        "Ó Raghallaigh"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈlaɪf əv ˈɹaɪ.li/",
      "tags": [
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        "US"
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      "audio": "En-au-life of Riley.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/77/En-au-life_of_Riley.ogg/En-au-life_of_Riley.ogg.mp3",
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      "tags": [
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "life of O'Reilly"
    },
    {
      "word": "life of Reilly"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "安逸的生活"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "无忧无虑的日子"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "luizenleventje"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "kissanpäivät"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "herran elämä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "vie de Cocagne"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "vie de coq-en-pâte"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "vie de château"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "wie Gott in Frankreich leben"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "zoḯ kai kóta",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ζωή και κότα"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "vita da nababbo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "vita da gran signore"
    },
    {
      "alt": "ひだりうちわ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "hidari-uchiwa",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "左団扇"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "życie jak w Madrycie"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kak syr v másle katátʹsja",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "как сыр в ма́сле ката́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kak u tjóšči na pečí",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "как у тёщи на печи́"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "vida de Jauja"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "ideal life of care-free prosperity",
      "word": "vidorra"
    }
  ],
  "word": "life of Riley"
}