life of Riley
UK/ˈlaɪf əv ˈɹaɪ.li/
life of Riley noun: an ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment.
Noun
the life of Riley
- An ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment.
- It's the life of Reilly, but we're not stuck on it at that [...] If I stay her^([sic]) doing this sort of work for another week I won't be fit to work all summer, for I'm getting lazier every day1902 June 24, “Not the "Life of Reilly"”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 8
- Michael, according to his own story, had "been living the life of Riley" ever since he bolted.1909 July 30, “"Wanderlust" Gripped Mike: Thirteen-year-old Italian Boy Found by Brother Yesterday”, in Morning Call, Paterson, NJ, page 1
Examples of life of Riley in a sentence
- After “living the life of Riley” for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons.1911, “Bullet Ends Life of Famous Wild Cow”, The Hartford Courant, December 1911
- For the Yankee troops who were assigned to take and hold the Coblenz bridgehead are leading the life of Riley on the Rhine.1919, Alexander Woollcott, The Command is Forward: Tales of the A.E.F. Battlefields, page 257:
Forms of life of Riley
| alternative form | life of O'Reilly |
|---|---|
| alternative form | life of Reilly |
Origin of life of Riley
Originated in the US c. 1902 (using the spelling "Reilly"). Popularized during World War I. Earlier origin unknown; various theories exist. Details Popularized in and immediately after World War I in both Britain and America, due to troops mixing in wartime. Attested in 1918 in letters home by American servicemen, with post-war British usage popularized by song “My Name is Kelly” (1919), by Harry Pease, featuring the lines: : Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly, : But I’m living the life of Reilly just the same. World War I spread possibly connected with the popularity of the song “Are You the O’Reilly?”, which featured a wealthy man living a life of comfort. The song was originally written in 1883 as “Is that Mr. Reilly?” by Pat Rooney Senior (1847–1892), a vaudeville performer, and featured an Irish character, then revived and adapted as a war song in 1915 by American P. Emmett with essentially the same lyrics, and as a British war song in the same year by Elwyn Yorke, with changed lyrics and an Australian character. The chorus runs: : Is that Mister Reilly, can anyone tell? : Is that Mister Reilly that owns the hotel? : Well, if that’s Mister Reilly they speak of so...
Questions about life of Riley
- What does life of Riley mean?
- Life of Riley means an ideal life of carefree prosperity and luxurious contentment.
- How do you use life of Riley in a sentence?
- After “living the life of Riley” for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons.
- What part of speech is life of Riley?
- Life of Riley is a noun.
- How do you pronounce life of Riley?
- Life of Riley is pronounced /ˈlaɪf əv ˈɹaɪ.li/ (UK).
Words near life of Riley in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: life of Riley (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-life of Riley.ogg.
Cite this entry: “life of Riley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/life_of_riley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.