livelihood
A means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income).
Noun
- A means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income).
- an independent livelihood; to make / earn / gain / win a good livelihood by the sweat of one's brow
- But now when Philtra ſaw my lands decay, And former liuelod fayle, ſhe left me quight[…]. - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for...
- […] a Man may as easily know where to find one, to teach him to Debauch, Whore, Game, and Blaspheme, as to teach him to Write, or Cast Accompt: ’Tis their Support, and Business; nay, their very Profession, and...
Synonyms: living subsistence sustenance
- Property which brings in an income; an estate.
- Then ſayde Peter: Ananias how is it that ſatan hath filled thyne hert thatt thou ſhuldeſt lye vnto the holy gooſt and kepe awaye parte off the pryce off the lyvelod[…]? - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe...
- Liveliness; appearance of life.
- […] the tiranny of her ſorrowes takes all liuelihood from her cheeke. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
- The course of someone's life; a person's lifetime, or their manner of living; conduct, behaviour.
- wel said Merlyn I knowe a lord of yours in this land that is a passyng true man & a feithful & he shal haue the nourysshyng of your child & his name is sir Ector & he is a lord of fair lyuelode in many partyes in...
Origin
From Middle English liflode, from Old English līflād (“course of life, conduct”), from līf (“life”) + lād (“course, journey”), later altered under the influence of lively, -hood. Compare life, lode.