Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Life \Life\ (l[imac]f), n.; pl. {Lives} (l[imac]vz). [AS.
   l[imac]f; akin to D. lijf body, G. leib body, MHG. l[imac]p
   life, body, OHG. l[imac]b life, Icel. l[imac]f, life, body,
   Sw. lif, Dan. liv, and E. live, v. [root]119. See {Live}, and
   cf. {Alive}.]
   1. The state of being which begins with generation, birth, or
      germination, and ends with death; also, the time during
      which this state continues; that state of an animal or
      plant in which all or any of its organs are capable of
      performing all or any of their functions; -- used of all
      animal and vegetable organisms.

   2. Of human beings: The union of the soul and body; also, the
      duration of their union; sometimes, the deathless quality
      or existence of the soul; as, man is a creature having an
      immortal life.

            She shows a body rather than a life.  --Shak.

   3. (Philos) The potential principle, or force, by which the
      organs of animals and plants are started and continued in
      the performance of their several and co["o]perative
      functions; the vital force, whether regarded as physical
      or spiritual.

   4. Figuratively: The potential or animating principle, also,
      the period of duration, of anything that is conceived of
      as resembling a natural organism in structure or
      functions; as, the life of a state, a machine, or a book;
      authority is the life of government.

   5. A certain way or manner of living with respect to
      conditions, circumstances, character, conduct, occupation,
      etc.; hence, human affairs; also, lives, considered
      collectively, as a distinct class or type; as, low life; a
      good or evil life; the life of Indians, or of miners.

            That which before us lies in daily life. --Milton.

            By experience of life abroad in the world. --Ascham.

            Lives of great men all remind us We can make our
            lives sublime.                        --Longfellow.

            'T is from high life high characters are drawn.
                                                  --Pope

   6. Animation; spirit; vivacity; vigor; energy.

            No notion of life and fire in fancy and in words.
                                                  --Felton.

            That gives thy gestures grace and life.
                                                  --Wordsworth.

   7. That which imparts or excites spirit or vigor; that upon
      which enjoyment or success depends; as, he was the life of
      the company, or of the enterprise.

   8. The living or actual form, person, thing, or state; as, a
      picture or a description from the life.

   9. A person; a living being, usually a human being; as, many
      lives were sacrificed.

   10. The system of animal nature; animals in general, or
       considered collectively.

             Full nature swarms with life.        --Thomson.

   11. An essential constituent of life, esp. the blood.

             The words that I speak unto you . . . they are
             life.                                --John vi. 63.

             The warm life came issuing through the wound.
                                                  --Pope

   12. A history of the acts and events of a life; a biography;
       as, Johnson wrote the life of Milton.

   13. Enjoyment in the right use of the powers; especially, a
       spiritual existence; happiness in the favor of God;
       heavenly felicity.

   14. Something dear to one as one's existence; a darling; --
       used as a term of endearment.

   Note: Life forms the first part of many compounds, for the
         most part of obvious meaning; as, life-giving,
         life-sustaining, etc.

   {Life annuity}, an annuity payable during one's life.

   {Life arrow}, {Life rocket}, {Life shot}, an arrow, rocket,
      or shot, for carrying an attached line to a vessel in
      distress in order to save life.

   {Life assurance}. See {Life insurance}, below.

Source : WordNet®

life
     n 1: a characteristic state or mode of living; "social life";
          "city life"; "real life"
     2: the course of existence of an individual; the actions and
        events that occur in living; "he hoped for a new life in
        Australia"; "he wanted to live his own life without
        interference from others"
     3: the experience of living; the course of human events and
        activities; "he could no longer cope with the complexities
        of life" [syn: {living}]
     4: the condition of living or the state of being alive; "while
        there's life there's hope"; "life depends on many chemical
        and physical processes" [syn: {animation}, {living}, {aliveness}]
     5: the period during which something is functional (as between
        birth and death); "the battery had a short life"; "he
        lived a long and happy life" [syn: {lifetime}, {lifespan}]
     6: the period between birth and the present time; "I have known
        him all his life"
     7: animation and energy in action or expression; "it was a
        heavy play and the actors tried in vain to give life to
        it" [syn: {liveliness}, {spirit}, {sprightliness}]
     8: an account of the series of events making up a person's life
        [syn: {biography}, {life story}, {life history}]
     9: the period from the present until death; "he appointed
        himself emperor for life"
     10: a living person; "his heroism saved a life"
     11: living things collectively; "the oceans are teeming with
         life"
     12: a motive for living; "pottery was his life"
     13: the organic phenomenon that distinguishes living organisms
         from nonliving ones; "there is no life on the moon"
     14: a prison term lasting as long as the prisoner lives; "he got
         life for killing the guard" [syn: {life sentence}]
     [also: {lives} (pl)]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Life
     
         The first popular {cellular automata} based
        {artificial life} "game".  Life was invented by British
        mathematician {John Horton Conway} in 1970 and was first
        introduced publicly in "Scientific American" later that year.
     
        Conway first devised what he called "The Game of Life" and
        "ran" it using plates placed on floor tiles in his house.
        Because of he ran out of floor space and kept stepping on the
        plates, he later moved to doing it on paper or on a
        checkerboard, and then moved to running Life as a computer
        program on a {PDP-7}.  That first implementation of Life as a
        computer program was written by M. J. T. Guy and
        {S. R. Bourne} (the author of {Unix}'s {Bourne shell}).
     
        Life uses a rectangular grid of binary (live or dead) cells
        each of which is updated at each step according to the
        previous state of its eight neighbours as follows: a live cell
        with less than two, or more than three, live neighbours dies.
        A dead cell with exactly three neighbours becomes alive.
        Other cells do not change.
     
        While the rules are fairly simple, the patterns that can arise
        are of a complexity resembling that of organic systems -- hence
        the name "Life".
     
        Many hackers pass through a stage of fascination with Life,
        and hackers at various places contributed heavily to the
        mathematical analysis of this game (most notably {Bill Gosper}
        at {MIT}, who even implemented Life in {TECO}!; see
        {Gosperism}).  When a hacker mentions "life", he is more
        likely to mean this game than the magazine, the breakfast
        cereal, the 1950s-era board game or the human state of
        existence.
     
        {Yahoo!
        (http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Artificial_Life/Conway_s_Game_of_Life/)}.
     
        {Demonstration
        (http://www.research.digital.com/nsl/projects/life/)}.
     
        ["Scientific American" 223, October 1970, p120-123, 224;
        February 1971 p121-117, Martin Gardner].
     
        ["The Garden in The Machine: the Emerging Science of
        Artificial Life", Claus Emmeche, 1994].
     
        ["Winning Ways, For Your Mathematical Plays", Elwyn
        R. Berlekamp, John Horton Conway and Richard K. Guy, 1982].
     
        ["The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of
        Scientific Knowledge", William Poundstone, 1985].
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1997-09-07)

LIFE
     
         Logic of Inheritance, Functions and Equations.
     
        An {object-oriented}, {functional}, {constraint}-based
        language by Hassan Ait-Kacy  et al of {MCC},
        Austin TX, 1987.  LIFE integrates ideas from {LOGIN} and
        {LeFun}.
     
        Mailing list: [email protected].
     
        See also {Wild_LIFE}.
     
        ["Is There a Meaning to LIFE?", H. Ait-Kacy et al, Intl Conf
        on Logic Prog, 1991].
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-04-21)

life
     
         The opposite of {Usenet}.  As in "{Get a life!}"
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-04-21)