life office
- noun
- Archaic
:
compañía de seguros de vida
- After his father passed away, he contacted the life office to file a claim.
Examples
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The life office introduced a new policy with improved benefits for families.
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Several major life offices merged to form a larger insurance provider.
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The life office offered me a great policy.
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I visited the local life office yesterday.
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After his father passed away, he contacted the life office to file a claim.
-
Several major life offices merged to form a larger insurance provider.
-
The life office introduced a new policy with improved benefits for families.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'life' and 'office' transparently point to an office or company concerned with 'life' matters, so a learner could plausibly infer it relates to life insurance. However, 'life office' is specialised/dated insurance jargon (equivalent to 'life assurance company') and that exact institutional meaning is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Life office comes from earlier times when people went to a real office to buy 'life assurance'. Clerks in that office kept lists of people's lives and payments, so life office came to mean the company that sells 'life insurance'.
