subsistence

subsistence
  (səbˈsɪstəns)
  Also 7– (now erron.) subsistance.
  [ad. late L. subsistentia, f. subsistens subsistent: see -ence. Cf. F. subsistance (from 16th c.), It. sussistenza, Sp., Pg. subsistencia. The L. word represents etymologically Gr. ὑπόστασις hypostasis.]
  I. 1. Existence as a substance or entity; substantial, real, or independent existence.

1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 221 Plato, whiche putte in God a cause of subsistence to be [qui dixit in Deo causam esse subsistendi]. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1032 It [sc. the soul] hath the subsistence and composition by harmony, but harmonie it is none. 1637 Gillespie Engl. Pop. Cerem. iii. iv. 65 An abstract is no more an abstract, if it have a subsistence. a 1665 J. Goodwin Being filled with the Sp. (1867) 209 The distinct manner of the subsistence of this one God—viz., that he subsists in three, which we call persons. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 57 He believed the soul had a distinct subsistence. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. I. 28 A Drop, which has Subsistence when alone, Will loose it when into the Ocean thrown. 1736 Chandler Hist. Persec. 43 Beryllus also..taught that our Saviour had no proper personal subsistence before his becoming Man. 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. I. 47 This reason is a mere abstract Notion, which hath no real Subsistence. 1838 [F. Haywood] tr. Kant's Crit. Pure Reason 654 Subsistence (Subsistenz) the existence of the substance, as inherence is that of the accident.

  2. a. A thing that has substantial or real existence.

1605 Timme Quersit. i. ii. 7 The soule and body of the world are knit together by the..æthereal spirits,..Joyning each part of the whole into one subsistence. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 50 When she [sc. the soul] withdraws within her self she knows subsistences, she treats with spirits. 1659 Moxon Tutor Astron. i. (1686) 1 They..concluded the parts to be Round: I mean, Every intire Subsistence, as the Stars, Planets, and the Earth. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 191 Because substances cannot inexist in anything, much less coexist in the same subject; therefore he [sc. Plato] styled them hypostases or subsistences.

  † b. The substance of a thing. Obs.

1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. 27 b, The one [sc. power] expressed in making the subsistence of the mater, & the other [sc. wisdom] in disposing the beauty of the fourme. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. Pref. §8 (1712) 5 The framing of Matter into the bare subsistence of an Animal.

  † 3. The condition or quality of inhering or residing in something. Obs.

1628 T. Spencer Logick 50 The forme is not the difference it selfe: for, a forme is a subsistence in an vnitie. 1650 Hobbes De Corpore Politico 133 The Subsistence and Migration of Accidents from place to place.

  4. Continued existence; continuance. Now rare.

1616 Bullokar Engl. Exp., Subsistence, the abiding or continuance of a thing in it owne estate. 1628 Coke On Litt. 122 A thing of perpetuall subsistance and continuance. 1642 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 771 This time of urgent Necessity, which so much importeth the Safety, and even the very subsistence of Us and Our good People. 1649 Milton Eikon. xxvii. 217 This Liberty of the Subject concerns himself and the subsistence of his own regal power. a 1687 H. More in Glanvill's Sadducismus (1689) 445 Believing no subsistence of the Soul of Christ after Death. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 100 It is necessary for the very subsistence of the world, that..injustice, and cruelty, should be punished. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, vii. III. 3 This barbarous outrage committed during the subsistence of truce. a 1781 Watson Philip III, iii. (1793) I. 380 To rival the Dutch in those branches of commerce which they had engrossed during the subsistence of the war. 1875 Gorman tr. Swedenborg's Chr. Psychol. ii. 19 Subsistence is the plain proof of existence. Hence the well-known maxim, Subsistence is perpetual existence.

  † 5. A state or mode of existence. Obs.

1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. li. §1 Euery person hath his owne subsistence which no other besides hath. 1627 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 499 Let us all labor to get the King on our side, and this may be no hard matter, considering the neer subsistence between the King and people. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 299 The Watry Consistence, left in a circular subsistence by the subsiding of the Ball of Earth into the common Center of the Universe.

  † 6. Theol. Any of the three Persons of the Trinity; = hypostasis 5. Obs.
  In late Gr. ὑπόστασις was used as the equivalent of L. persona; but in the treatise Contra Eutychen et Nestorium iii, ascribed to Boethius, it is stated that subsistentia in this sense renders Gr. οὐσίωσις.

1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xiii. 32, I call therefore a Persone, a subsistence in the essence of God. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades iv. iii. 624/1 We doe neither confound, nor yet denye or take away the three Subsistences or persons of the diuine essence. 1641 Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 68 The third subsistence of Divine Infinitude, illumining Spirit. a 1670 South Serm. Col. ii. 2 (1727) IV. 295 One single, undivided Nature's casting itself into three Subsistences, without receding from its own Unity. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Phil. ii. 5, 6 Christ,..the Brightness of his Father's Glory, and the express Image of his Subsistence, (or Person). a 1704 [see subsistent n. 3].

  II. † 7. Basis, foundation; = hypostasis 2. Obs.

a 1631 Donne Selections (1840) 78 Let us look first to..reason; for if we lose that..there is no footing, no subsistence for grace. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 348 What is God, but the very Being of all things that yet are not, and the Subsistence of things that are?

  † 8. Sediment; = hypostasis 1 a. Obs.

1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. i. 16 The pure Oyle cannot mingle with the water, no more this extracted quintessence and Spirit of Vertue, with the dregges and subsistence of vnworthinesse.

  III. 9. a. The provision of support for animal life; the furnishing of food or provender. Now rare exc. in means of subsistence.

c 1645 Howell Lett. ii. liv. (1892) 454 A Tree call'd Manguais, which affords..all things..that belong to the subsistence of man. 1655 Cromwell Let. Nov. (1845) II. 390 What necessary supplies, as well for comfortable subsistence as for your security against the Spaniard, this place may afford. a 1704 T. Brown Praise Pov. Wks. 1730 I. 104 Tilling their own few acres of ground for the subsistence of their families. 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. to People 99 Furnishing turnips for the winter subsistance of the cattle. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 103 As the means of subsistence were destroyed, they removed further to the westward. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke Farm iii. 39, I should not wonder if you must pay for the subsistence of your cow this winter by extra labour. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. xiv. (1880) 244 Finding the door to promotion or even to subsistence closed against him. 1884 Law Times Rep. L. 9/2 We submit that the court will not reduce the defendant to beggary by selling his only means of subsistence.

  b. The upkeep of an army; the provision of supplies for troops.

1746 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 41 The providing a sufficient quantity of Provisions for the subsistence of the Troops which shall be raised here. 1793 Lindsay (title) Extracts from Colonel Tempelhoffe's History of the Seven Years' War; his Remarks..on the Subsistence of Armies, and On the March of Convoys. 1834 Wellington in Stanhope Convers. (1888) 60, I have always taken most especial care of the subsistence of my troops.

  10. a. Means of supporting life in persons or animals; means of support or livelihood. (In first quot. transf.)

1639 Fuller Holy War i. xxiv. 39 As for the brook Cedron, it was dried up, as having no subsistence of it self. 1687 Dryden Hind. & P. iii. 245 If reduc'd subsistence to implore, In common prudence they wou'd pass your door. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 4 Feb. 1693, France in the utmost..poverty for want of corn and subsistence. 1760 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. ii. (1765) 232 The country..but just affording subsistence. 1833 H. Martineau Illustr. Pol. Econ. IV. Fr. Wines & Pol. viii, I thought our poor helped out their subsistence by nettle broth and frog stew. 1834 L. Ritchie Wand. Seine 183 The inhabitants..derive their subsistance chiefly from fishing. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. iii. 630 It is the interest of the monarch that his subjects should have subsistence and abundance.

  b. With a and † pl. A living, livelihood.

1690 Child Disc. Trade (1698) 62 A trading country affording comfortable subsistances to more families than a country destitute of trade. 1693 Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 38 My little salary ill paid, and no prospect of a future subsistence. c 1720 Pope Let. to Buckingham Wks. 1737 VI. 110 There is yet a small subsistance left them [sc. rats] in the few remaining books of the Library. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley viii. 127 You offered your labour in return for a subsistence paid out of our capital. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, A knot of those amphibious human-creatures who appear to have some mysterious power of extracting a subsistence out of tidal water by looking at it.

  † c. Food-supply, food, provender. Obs.

1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 77 Their subsistence is much the same as in the other Islands..; they having some Goats [etc.]. 1774 Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 278 All the subsistance the poor people have besides is curds milk and fish. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. xi. I. 286 They [sc. kinds of rude produce] have become worth..a greater quantity of labour and subsistence. 1788 Encycl. Brit. (1797) II. 756/1 The seal..being their principal subsistence.

  d. = subsistence money 1.

1702 Milit. Dict. (1704), Subsistance, is Mony paid Weekly or Monthly, or otherwise to Soldiers, for them to subsist on till the general Pay days. 1798 R. Jackson Hist. & Cure Fever 395 The pay of a soldier, while at home, the ration, on foreign service, with a small addition, or weekly stoppage from the subsistence, will be found equal to furnish every comfort..which a sick man can require. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Subsistence, the amount to be issued to troops as daily pay, after making the regulated deductions for rations, necessaries, etc.

  11. attrib., as subsistence dole; with reference to farming, in which the produce is used for the producer's own subsistence and not for exchange; as subsistence agriculture, subsistence crop, subsistence economy, subsistence farming; subsistence farm, subsistence farmer; subsistence department U.S., the department that has charge of the provision of subsistence for troops; subsistence diet, the minimum amount of food requisite to keep a person in health; so subsistence quantity; subsistence level, the economic level at which only the bare necessities of life can be provided; subsistence stores U.S., stores required to keep an army in food, etc.; subsistence wage, the amount of money a person must earn in order to achieve a minimal standard of living. Also subsistence money.

1937 *Subsistence agriculture [see cash-crop s.v. cash n.1 3].

1940 *Subsistence crop [see subsistence farm below].

1863 Congress. Globe App. 184/2 That there be added to the *subsistence department of the Army one brigadier general,..who shall be Commissary General of Subsistence.

1865 L. Playfair Food of Man 39 The urea secreted by a man living on a mere *subsistence diet.

1897 Daily News 30 Mar. 3/1, 330,000 gratuitously relieved by *subsistence doles.

1940 E. Huntingdon Princ. Econ. Geogr. 711 (Index), *Subsistence economy. 1962 R. S. Thoman Geogr. iii. viii. 150/1 The crudest of subsistence economies need not involve markets. 1971 World Archaeol. III. 171 Hunting..is considerably less important in the overall subsistence economy than foraging.

1940 Whitbeck & Williams Econ. Geogr. S. Amer. (ed. 3) ii. 57 Subsistence crops are found both on tiny *subsistence farms and on the commercial plantations.

1951 A. L. Rowse England of Elizabeth vi. 231 He was no mere *subsistence farmer. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Mar. 175/2 Let us take as an example..a subsistence farmer debating whether to produce a surplus for sale.

1949 W. Smith Econ. Geogr. Gt. Brit. i. i. 44 As long as *subsistence farming was practised..price fluctuations had only a limited significance. 1962 Listener 22 Mar. 496/1 They are undergoing the transition from subsistence farming to being a landless proletariat. 1978 A. J. Huxley Illustr. Hist. Gardening i. 13 The final stage of collapse back into subsistence farming after conquest and pillage is..all too frequent.

1923 H. W. B. Joseph Labour Theory of Value in Karl Marx ii. 44 Marx believed in the so-called ‘iron law of wages’, in accordance with which there is a constant tendency under capitalism for wages to sink to the bare *subsistence-level. 1978 A. J. Huxley Illustr. Hist. Gardening i. 11 Communities have to raise themselves above the subsistence level before they can really afford to grow..plants not strictly utilitarian.

1865 L. Playfair Food of Man 26 There is also included in this *subsistence quantity [of food] both a limited amount of mental work and a full proportional of assimilative work.

1895 Funk's Stand. Dict., *Subsistence stores (U.S.), the supplies of food required for the regular army. 1898 Daily News 30 June 5/4 Inability to bring the subsistence stores to the front rapidly enough.

1926 British Worker 10 May 3 Mr. Hebert Smith told to running bursts of sympathy the story of the miners' patient struggle to retain a *subsistence wage. 1982 Washington Post 17 July a4/4 Many..have also, it is alleged, worked long hours for subsistence wages.

Oxford English Dictionary