There he is to the life

[sitifan]

There he is to the life, looking as if at any moment he will slowly open those large grey heavy lidded eyes, stare at us solemnly for a minute, and then declare that "really he hasn't the least idea."
(Self-selected Essays, by J. B. Priestley, published in 1957)

What does the clause in bold mean?

 

[probus]

It sounds a bit unnatural to my AmE ear, but I suspect it's okay if perhaps dated in BrE. Let's wait to hear from our colleagues in the UK on its meaning.

 

[Skrej]

I'm struggling with it myself, but I would guess it means something like 'he looks very lifelike' or 'looks almost alive'.

It sounds like a comment you'd make when viewing a body at a funeral.

 

[sitifan]

I'm struggling with it myself, but I would guess it means something like 'he looks very lifelike' or 'looks almost alive'.

It sounds like a comment you'd make when viewing a body at a funeral.

Is it possible to refer to still life?
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/zht/詞典/英語-漢語-繁體/still-life

 

[Skrej]

No. I suppose it could be referring to a portrait or photograph, though. Even if it were a painting or picture of a human (alive, deceased or even sleeping), we couldn't refer to it as a still life. Still lifes may occasionally have humans in them, but they're generally about inanimate objects. Humans are never the main focus of a still life.

Can you post a bit more of the text, or link to it?

 

[sitifan]

Can you post a bit more of the text, or link to it?

I was there the other day, and drifted about as idly and foolishly as ever, acquiring no information of any kind. No, that is not strictly true. I made one discovery, relating to the age of the official type, the born Civil Service man. How long has this type existed? I do not know, but now I can go back with confidence to 3300 B.C. He was alive then, because there is a solid and unmistakable image of him in the British Museum, labelled “Sumerian official 1st Dynasty of Ur.” There he is to the life, looking as if at any moment he will slowly open those large grey heavy lidded eyes, stare at us solemnly for a minute, and then declare that “really he hasn't the least idea.”
(Self-selected Essays, by J. B. Priestley, published in 1957)

 

[Skrej]

That link just leads me to what appears to be some kind of footnotes or isolated excerpts from the work with corresponding Chinese translations. The original quote seems to be from a book called "Travel with Great Writers:An Informal Literary Guide to Europe" by Robert Hector.

He was alive then, because there is a solid and unmistakable image of him in the British Museum, labelled, "Sumerian official 1st Dynasty of Ur". There he is to life, looking as if at any moment he will slowly open those large grey heavy lidded eyes, stare at us solemnly for a minute, and then declare that "really he hasn't the least idea."

So, it is a comment about looking life-like, albeit in regards to a statue or effigy, not a corpse.

 

[probus]

@Rover_KE , @jutfrank, @teechar, @5jj, @emsr2d2?

 

[emsr2d2]

Given the context, I can only assume it means that it looks very lifelike. I've never heard it before, though.

 

[jutfrank]

to the life

1. If a picture or description is someone to the life, it is exactly like that…

dictionary.cambridge.org

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/to-the-life

 

[teechar]

I can't say I've come across it either. Obviously, it exists, but it's certainly not common at all. Perhaps it is dated, indeed.

 

[Phaedrus]

This is the first I've learned of the phrase. The O.E.D. has the following entry on it:

to the life: with lifelike representation of or resemblance to the original (said esp. of a drawing or painting); with fidelity to nature; with exact reproduction of every point or detail. †Formerly with of.

1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. 247 Wherein..the very Site, Fabricke, Strength, Policie, Dignitie and Affections of the cittie were all laide downe to life.
1606 No-body & Some-body sig. D4 Let him be straight imprinted to the life: His picture shall be set on euery stall.
1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 19 To frame of their own heads as it were with wax a kinde of Mimick Bishop limm'd out to the life of a dead Priesthood.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. vii. §12 The shadow or dark representation of that which was to be drawn afterwards to the greatest life.
1678 tr. A. de Courtin Rules Civility (rev. ed.) xix. 268 To reflect upon a Lady..for having set her self out to the life in order to some evil design.
1702 in J. Ashton Social Life Reign of Queen Anne (1882) I. 283 Effigies..Curiously done in Wax to the Life.
a1758 A. Ramsay Some of Contents Ever-green (1761) vii The girnand wyfe, Fleming and Scot haif painted to the lyfe.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. ii. vii. 281 I can take off a cat to the life.
1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth II. x. 199 Where is the coquette that cannot scream to the life?
1887 H. Caine Deemster I. vii. 137 The young rogue, who spoke the home-spun to the life.
1941 ‘N. Blake’ Case of Abominable Snowman iv. 33 She resembled to the life the stately, arch, sorely put-upon hostess of Animal Crackers.
1988 S. Gray How's that for telling 'em, Fat Lady? ii. 60 There he was, Nathan to the life, sitting at a table with various foods spread in front of him.

 

[teechar]

The nearest I can think of are "true to life" and "to a TEE".