A lively individual who helps make a social gathering a success. This term, dating from the first half of the nineteenth century, began as the life and soul of the party, but in time the second half was dropped. Joshua Ferris used it in his short story, “The Pilot”: “His pilot was a comedy in which the main character was a recovering alcoholic. . . . He was the ‘life of the party’” (New Yorker, June 14–21, 2010).