maintenance (mantenans)

[ See me as on due . maistert, maist res set, etc. Obsolete forms of master , mistre , etc. maistowt. A Middle English contraction of mayest thou . This maistow understonde and sen at eye. Chaucer , Knight's Tale, 1. 2158. tentation; vindication: as, the maintenance of maistri, maistree (mas'tri), n. [E. Ind.] In the a family; the maintenance of right. He, on the other hand, granting to them a bond of main tenance, or protection, by which he bound himself, in usual form, to maintain their quarrel against all mortals, saving his loyalty. Quoted in Child's Ballads , VI. 163. All Christian soveranty is by law, and to no other end but to the maintenance of the common good. Milton , Apology for Smectymnuus, Ability to feel depends on the maintenance of a certain temperature. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 42. 2. That which maintains or supports; means of livelihood. After such an age no minister was permitted to preach, but had his maintenance continu'd during life. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641. 3t. Bearing; behavior. She had so stedfaste countenaunce, So noble porte and meyntenaunce . Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 834. For all their craft is in their countenaunce, They bene so grave and full of mayntenaunce . Spenser, Shep. Cal., September. Among all honest Christian people, Whoe'er breaks limbs maintains the cripple. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintain'd its man. Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 58. It is a mistake to suppose that the rich man maintains his servants, tradesmen, tenants, and labourers: the truth is, they maintain him. Paley, Moral Philos., III. ii. 2. 3. To hold fast; keep in po e ion; preserve from capture or lo : as, to maintain one's ground in battle or in argument; to maintain an advantage. Thei meyntenen hem self right vygouresly. Mandeville, Travels, p. 155. I stand upon the ground of mine own.honour, And will maintain it. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iii. 5. To maintain the frontiers of the Rhine and the Danube was, from the first century to the fifth, the great object of Rome's European policy and warfare. E. A. Freeman , Amer. Lects., p. 107. 4. To give support or encouragement to; uphold; countenance; vindicate, as by defense or adjudication. We will put oure bodyes in auenture of deth for to encrece holy chirche and the cristin feith to mayntene. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 580. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. Ps. ix. 4. 5. To uphold by argument or a ertion; hold to: as, to maintain the doctrine of the Trinity. We maintain that in Scripture we are taught all things nece ary unto salvation. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8. The Luther an churches maintain consubstantiation. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), II. 299. This glittering, fanciful system of fencing which he kept up on all subjects, maintaining with equal brilliancy and ingenuity this to-day and that to-morrow. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 360. 6t. To represent; denote. This side is Hiems, Winter, this Ver, the Spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo, Shak ., L. L. L., v. 2. 902, [ =Syn. 4 and 5. Defend, Vindicate , etc. See a ert. II. in trans. 1. To behave; conduct one's self. [Prov. Eng.]-2. To hold as true; hold. maintainable (man-ta'na-bl), a . + -able .] Capable of being maintained, kept up, supported, or upheld; sustainable; defensible. They perhaps, if they were urged, could say little else than that without such a second voyage their opinion were not maintainable . Raleigh , Hist. World, II. 1. 3. an interfering with the due course of justice. J. F. Stephen. - Cap of maintenance, a cap of dig. nity carried before the sovereigns of England at their coronation; a kind of abacot or by cocket. The term is also applied to an ornament borne before the mayors of certain cities on state occasions. In heraldry it is in use as a symbol of dignity, and is occasionally shown beneath the crest in place of the customary wreath. The cap of maintenance (or estate) originally belonged to nobles Cap of Maintenance. exclusively, is now granted to gentlemen, and is irrespective of rank. In the later end of thys yere came the thyrde cappe of mayntenaunce from the pope. Fabyan , Chron., I., an. 1506. =Syn. 1. Justification, preservation. - 2. Subsistence , Livelihood, etc. See living. maintenantlyt (mān'te-nant-li), adv . [ * main tenant, main tenant , now, at the present moment, ppr. of maintenir , keep, maintain: see maintain.] Incontinently; straightway. East Indies, a native foreman or master workman: said of masons, carpenters, cooks, etc. Labour, 4 annas a day, exclusive of maistries ' wages. Spons' Encyc. Manuf., I. 714. maistringt, a. A Middle English form of mas- tering. maistriset, n. [ME., maist rise , mastery, maistre , master: see mastery .] Same as mas- tery. And eke amidde this purprise Was maad a tour of gret maist rise. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4172. Maitland cord. See cord1. maître (ma'tr), n. [F.: see master1.] A master.- A la maître d'hôtel, in cookery, a phrase signifying that a dish is served with a sauce made of butter melted with a little lemon-juice, vinegar, and chopped parsley. -Maitre de chapelle, a choir-master. See maîtrise.Maître d'hôtel, the master or superintendent of the table in a mansion; a butler.