aliment

plural aliments

1. archaiccountableuncountableFood.

   In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; [...]

   1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization, Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 1

2. countablefigurativelyuncountableNourishment, sustenance.

   All this monotony might be a good aliment for a poet but what if one had no gifts?

   1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 356

   1 more example

   As when Demosthenes reprehended the people for hearkening to the conditions offered by King Philip, being not honourable nor equal, he saith they were but aliments of their sloth and weakness, which if they were taken away, necessity would teach them stronger resolutions.

   1597, Francis Bacon, “Of the Coulers of Good and Evill. A Fragment.”, in James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, editors, The Works of Francis Bacon, […], volume VII, London: Longman, Green, and Co.; […], published 1859, →OCLC, pages 90–91

3. ScotlandcountableuncountableAn allowance for maintenance; alimony.

present singular third person aliments · participle present alimenting · participle past alimented · past alimented

1. obsoleteTo feed, nourish.
2. To sustain, support.

   Yet there would also be many – and not simply the powerful and ultra-privileged – who lost out, and whose discontent operated as a kind of political yeast, alimenting ‘unpatriotic’ thoughts and acts.

   2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 434