"on the qui vive" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "sur le qui-vive",
        "t": "in a state of heightened vigilance"
      },
      "expansion": "Partial calque of French sur le qui-vive (“in a state of heightened vigilance”)",
      "name": "partial calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Partial calque of French sur le qui-vive (“in a state of heightened vigilance”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adverb",
        "head": "on the qui vive"
      },
      "expansion": "on the qui vive",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1920, J[ohn] O[tway] P[ercy] Bland, “[Exhibit G.] Three Palaces.”, in Administration of Immigration Laws: Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization: House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session: […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 373:",
          "text": "The political influence wielded by many of the court ladies, and especially by the first lady-in-waiting (mother of the present Emperor), bears a certain resemblance to that which the eunuchs wielded under the later Manchus at the court of Peking. […] And behind the 30 ladies-in-waiting there are the rank and file of female palace attendants, some 300, all of Kyoto stock—quite sufficient to keep any conscientious chamberlain on the qui vive.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The question of who pressed the bell that sounded in Erskine's room, in the night, was a great source of worry to Watt, for a time, and kept him awake at night, on the qui vive.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a state of heightened vigilance, especially prior to battle."
      ],
      "id": "en-on_the_qui_vive-en-adv-ALKCJcYY",
      "links": [
        [
          "heightened",
          "heightened#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "vigilance",
          "vigilance"
        ],
        [
          "battle",
          "battle#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the qui vive"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "sur le qui-vive",
        "t": "in a state of heightened vigilance"
      },
      "expansion": "Partial calque of French sur le qui-vive (“in a state of heightened vigilance”)",
      "name": "partial calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Partial calque of French sur le qui-vive (“in a state of heightened vigilance”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adverb",
        "head": "on the qui vive"
      },
      "expansion": "on the qui vive",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms derived from French",
        "English terms partially calqued from French",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1920, J[ohn] O[tway] P[ercy] Bland, “[Exhibit G.] Three Palaces.”, in Administration of Immigration Laws: Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization: House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session: […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 373:",
          "text": "The political influence wielded by many of the court ladies, and especially by the first lady-in-waiting (mother of the present Emperor), bears a certain resemblance to that which the eunuchs wielded under the later Manchus at the court of Peking. […] And behind the 30 ladies-in-waiting there are the rank and file of female palace attendants, some 300, all of Kyoto stock—quite sufficient to keep any conscientious chamberlain on the qui vive.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The question of who pressed the bell that sounded in Erskine's room, in the night, was a great source of worry to Watt, for a time, and kept him awake at night, on the qui vive.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a state of heightened vigilance, especially prior to battle."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "heightened",
          "heightened#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "vigilance",
          "vigilance"
        ],
        [
          "battle",
          "battle#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "on the qui vive"
}