Meanings
- In a state of heightened vigilance, especially prior to battle.
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.
1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC1 more example
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.
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
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Partial calque of French sur le qui-vive (“in a state of heightened vigilance”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
on the qui vive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20qui%20vive
“on the qui vive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20qui%20vive. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the qui vive,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20qui%20vive.
Source: on the qui vive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.