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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

aliment en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈæ.lɪ.mənt/ (UK)

Etymology

From French aliment, from Latin alimentum (“food”).

Meanings

  1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Food.
    • 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. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) Nourishment, 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:
    • 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. (Scotland, countable, uncountable) An allowance for maintenance; alimony.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
aliments Number=Plur lexicographic

aliment en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈæ.lɪ.mənt/ (UK)

Etymology

From French aliment, from Latin alimentum (“food”).

Meanings

  1. (obsolete) To 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
alimenting Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
aliments Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
alimented Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
alimented Tense=Past lexicographic

Deriveds

alimentative

Relateds

alimony · alimental · alimentary · alimentary canal · alimentous