1. [n]  large and complicated reddish-brown glandular organ located in the upper right portion of the abdominal cavity; secretes bile and functions in metabolism of protein and carbohydrate and fat; synthesizes substances involved in the clotting of the blood; synthesizes vitamin A; detoxifies poisonous substances and breaks down worn-out erythrocytes
2. [n]  liver of an animal used as meat
3. [n]  someone who lives in a place; "a liver in cities"
4. [n]  a person who has a special life style; "a high liver"

1. \Liv"er\, n.
   1. One who, or that which, lives.
   
            And try if life be worth the liver's care. --Prior.
   
   2. A resident; a dweller; as, a liver in Brooklyn.
   
   3. One whose course of life has some marked characteristic
      (expressed by an adjective); as, a free liver.
   
   {Fast liver}, one who lives in an extravagant and dissipated
      way.
   
   {Free liver}, {Good liver}, one given to the pleasures of the
      table.
   
   {Loose liver}, a person who lives a somewhat dissolute life.
   
   

2. \Liv"er\, n. [AS. lifer; akin to D. liver, G. leber, OHG.
   lebara, Icel. lifr, Sw. lefver, and perh. to Gr. ? fat, E.
   live, v.] (Anat.)
   A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral
   cavity of all vertebrates.
   
   Note: Most of the venous blood from the alimentary canal
         passes through it on its way back to the heart; and it
         secretes the bile, produces glycogen, and in other ways
         changes the blood which passes through it. In man it is
         situated immediately beneath the diaphragm and mainly
         on the right side. See {Bile}, {Digestive}, and
         {Glycogen}. The liver of invertebrate animals is
         usually made up of c[ae]cal tubes, and differs
         materially, in form and function, from that of
         vertebrates.
   
   {Floating liver}. See {Wandering liver}, under {Wandering}.
   
   
   {Liver of antimony}, {Liver of sulphur}. (Old Chem.) See
      {Hepar}.
   
   {Liver brown}, {Liver color}, the color of liver, a dark,
      reddish brown.
   
   {Liver shark} (Zo["o]l.), a very large shark ({Cetorhinus
      maximus}), inhabiting the northern coasts both of Europe
      and North America. It sometimes becomes forty feet in
      length, being one of the largest sharks known; but it has
      small simple teeth, and is not dangerous. It is captured
      for the sake of its liver, which often yields several
      barrels of oil. It has gill rakers, resembling whalebone,
      by means of which it separates small animals from the sea
      water. Called also {basking shark}, {bone shark},
      {hoemother}, {homer}, and {sailfish}
   
   

3. \Liv"er\, n. (Zo["o]l.)
   The glossy ibis ({Ibis falcinellus}); -- said to have given
   its name to the city of Liverpool.
   
   

(Heb. kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the heaviest of the viscera, Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was burnt upon the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezek. 21:21 there is allusion, in the statement that the king of Babylon "looked upon the liver," to one of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the LXX. and Josephus understood "the liver of goats." By the "caul above the liver," in Lev. 4:9; 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the liver itself.