qui-vive

noun

( italics ) French. who goes there?

Idioms

on the qui vive, on the alert; watchful: Special guards were on the qui vive for trespassers.

Origin:
1720–30; < French literally, (long) live who? (i.e., on whose side are you?)

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary

qui vive (ˌkiː ˈviːv)

—n
	on the qui vive on the alert; attentive

[C18: from French, literally: long live who?, sentry's challenge (equivalent to "To whose party do you belong?" or "Whose side do you support?")]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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00:10

Qui-vive is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

qui vive

1726, from Fr. qui voulez-vous qui vive? sentinel's challenge, "whom do you wish to live," lit. "(long) live who?" In other words, "whose side are you on?"

Matching Quote

"It may be objected, that I am now recommending dissimulation to you; I both own and justify it. It has been long said: Qui nescit dissimular nescit regnare: I go still farther, and say, that without some dissimulation, no business can be carried on at all."

-Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, 4th Earl

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