[ad. L. alimōnia nutriment; f. al-ĕre to nourish: see -MONY.]
1. Nourishment; supply of the means of living, maintenance.
1636. Cowley, Avarice (1710), II. 755. To see, that he should not want Alimony befitting his Condition.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VI. 193. That she may have strength against both her enemies, she has need of more ample Alimony.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 58. These words Alimony and Victuals are used in a larger Acceptation, and denote all kind of maintenance whatever … as Meat, Drink, Cloathes.
1827. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), IV. 543. Paying each of the members of the aristocracy an alimony from the public purse.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesth., ii. 50. The age and character they [widows] most bear before they are entitled to such benevolent alimony.
b. fig.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Worthy Commun., i § 1. 18. These men will allow the Sacraments to be … spiritual alimony.
a. 1670. Hacket, Cent. Serm., 287. His benediction is alimony enough though there were no meat in the world.
2. esp. The allowance that a wife is entitled to from her husband’s estate, for her maintenance, on separation from him for certain causes.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. 58. He should appoint the said Emme Pinkney reasonable Alimony.
1721. Mrs. Centlivre, Marplot, II. i. 143. A Wound in the Reputation of an English Woman, they say, only lets in Alimony, but with us it lets out Life.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy Bk. Prop. Law, XII. 73. The Court can direct the husband to pay alimony.
