Meanings
- not comparableLiving on the premises; usually said of a household employee or a domestic partner.
A live-in maid is a true luxury, but even a maid once a week is great.
1 more example
The Air Force veteran fatally shot by police during last week’s US Capitol riot had been in a “throuple” with her husband and their live-in girlfriend, according to reports.
2021 January 14, Tamar Lapin, “Ashli Babbitt, Air Force vet killed at Capitol, was in a ‘throuple’”, in New York Post, retrieved 22 Jul 2021
plural live-ins
- A household employee or domestic partner who lives on the premises of the employer or partner.
30, Camb seeks one man lover 20-32: shd lke domestic evenings, books, edc people, travel. Possible live-in for right guy.
1974 February 2, “ATTRAC, WELL OFF HARV-ED GWM (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 32, page 141 more example
[…] but that doesn't stop families from hiring live-ins; nor does it stop newly arrived Latina migrant workers from taking jobs they urgently need.
2001, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Doméstica, page 31 - A firefighter who lives at the fire station.
Origin
- Middle Englishlefe
- Englishlive
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
- Proto-Germanic*in
- Proto-West Germanic*in
- Old Englishin
- Middle Englishin
- Englishin
- Englishlive-in
Translations
Polish zamieszkały na miejscu
- zamieszkały na miejsculiving on the premises
Spanish puertas adentro, conviviente
- puertas adentroliving on the premises
- convivienteliving on the premises
- internaliving on the premises
Cite this entry
live-in. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/live-in
“live-in.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/live-in. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “live-in,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/live-in.
Source: live-in on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.