▪ I. aliment
(ˈælɪmənt)
[a. Fr. aliment (16th c. in Littré), or ad. its original, L. aliment-um, f. al-ĕre to nourish: see -ment.]
1. The material or means of nourishing; that which nourishes or feeds; nutriment, food.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. (in Ashmole 1652) v. 76 Liquors conveieth all Aliment and Food To every part of Mans Body. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. (1873) xxv. §15 In the body there are three degrees of that we receive into it, aliment, medicine and poison. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 378 Poysons may meet with tempers whereto they may become Aliments. 1682 Grew Anat. Plants Introd. 3 The Aliment by which a Plant is fed. 1743 tr. Heister's Surg. 110 Fluid Aliments, such as Broths or Soups. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. An. iv. 204 A mouth and gullet..admit aliment to the digestive sac. |
2. fig. That which supports or sustains the mind, a quality, state, etc.; sustenance, support.
| a 1631 Donne Serm. lxxxi. Wks. IV. 8 The world is one body and Marriage the Aliment. 1665–9 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. ix. (1675) 224 The means of grace..are piety's true and improving Aliments. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 92 Mischief, love, and contradiction, are the natural aliments of a woman. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. iv. 143 Vice is not a necessary aliment, it is not even a necessary foil to virtue. |
3. Sc. Law and gen. Provision for the maintenance of any one, called in Eng. Law alimony; an allowance, annuity or pension.
| 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 167 Allowing to the said Margaret, for hir and hir childrene thair aliment and mantenance..aught hundred merks. 1780 Howard Prisons in Eng. & Wales 6 The expense of sueing for the aliment. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. IX. xx. ix. 166 He had some pension or aliment from the Austrian Court. 1881 Fifeshire Jrnl. 15 Jan. 5/5 Inspector of Poor sued James Baxter for the board of his father in the Poorhouse..Decree was given for aliment at the rate of 2s. 6d. a week. |
▪ II. aliment, v.
(ˈælɪmənt)
[a. Fr. alimente-r (14th c. in Littré). Cf. med.L. alimentā-re, f. aliment-um: see prec.]
† 1. To nourish, supply with food, feed. Obs.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxix. 113 She hathe alymented and noryshed her from the owre of hyr birthe. |
2. fig. To maintain, sustain, support.
| 1663 G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoica (1685) Addr., There is Heavenly Mannah enough to aliment us all. 1789 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 95 They will furnish him money liberally to aliment a civil war. 1842 Chalmers Lect. Rom. I. 42 Not fitted to aliment the faith and the holiness. |
3. Sc. Law and gen. To make provision for the maintenance of; to pension.
| 1629 Marriage Contract in Rep. Hist. MSS. (1871) 168/2 To educate and aliment them according to their rank. 1837 Lockhart Scott (1839) V. 320 They would have alimented the honest man decently among them for a lay figure. 1861 R. Phillimore Intern. Law (1874) IV. 239 To compel an English mother to aliment a child born in Scotland. |