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In informal English, especially around prisons and crime news, a lifer is someone a court has sent to prison for life — they are meant to stay inside until they die, or until a later decision lets them out. It is not a kind word, and it is not the word on the legal paper; it is the street name for a person serving a life sentence.
In informal English在非正式英文裡, especially尤其是 around prisons and crime news講監獄和犯罪新聞時, a lifera lifer is是 someone a court has sent to prison for life被法院判無期徒刑、送進監獄的人 — they are meant to stay inside他們原本是要一直待著 until they die直到死, or until或等到 a later decision lets them out之後的判決讓他們出來。It is這 not a kind word不是個好聽的詞, and而且 it is not the word on the legal paper也不是法律文件上寫的字; it is它是 the street name for a person serving a life sentence服無期徒刑的人的江湖說法。
Though actually, ‘life’ does not always mean never leaving: each country’s law is different, and some lifers do come out years later.
Though actually不過, ‘life’「life（無期）」 does not always mean不見得代表 never leaving永遠出不來: each country’s law is different每個國家的法律不一樣, and而 some lifers有些lifer do come out years later確實在幾年後就出獄了。
Americans also stretch it: a lifer at a company is someone who never leaves the job — same joke, much softer. Keep the prison sense for this word in serious talk, and keep the word itself for informal English.
Americans美國人 also stretch it也會把這個詞用得更廣: a lifer at a companya lifer at a company（公司裡的老員工） is指 someone who never leaves the job從不離職的人 — same joke, much softer一樣的玩笑話，但輕鬆很多。Keep the prison sense for this word在正式場合談這個詞時把它留給監獄的意思 in serious talk, and而 keep the word itself這個詞本身 for informal English則留給非正式英文用。
組成From life + -er. The -er makes a person. Here it is short for a person serving a life sentence.
同家族的字
- lifefrom a life sentence: prison for life
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
lifernoun/ˈlaɪfə(ɹ)/
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A prisoner sentenced to life in prison.
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A prisoner sentenced to transportation for life.
- They know what a clever lad he is; he'll be a lifer. They'll make the Artful nothing less than a lifer.
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A person with a singular career path, especially in the military.
- "[…]The Top's not a lifer; he's a career Marine. Lifers are a breed. A lifer is anybody who abuses authority he doesn't deserve to have. There are plenty of civilian lifers."
- LRRP planned to become “career” Army, i.e., a lifer, you kept that quiet. Basic LRRP theology said the Army sucked and that philosophy kept one from going crazy because, at the bottom, nothing about the war seemed to make sense anyway. The LRRP's considered a lifer a loser. Being a lifer implied one had no other options available. Every LRRP had his own stories about back home: about family, friends, lovers, opportunities, dreams and a future. These were mostly fantasy, but […]
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biologybirdwatchingnatural-sciencesA species seen for the first time by a birder or other naturalist who is keeping a list of all the species they have seen.
- It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hunter (most of us, if we are honest), the full-time observatory workers (exhibiting the highest standards of discipline) and the growing group of full-blooded rarity collectors (self-styled ‘twitchers’, covering individually up to 30,000 miles in their annual pursuit of ‘lifers’).
- We have concurred that it was clearly Problema byssus, the byssus skipper: a lifer for me.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。