Alternative forms

• livelod
• lyuelode [12th–17th c.]
• lyvelod [14th–17th c.]

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#LIVELIHOODCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#LIVELIHOOD liflode, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#LIVELIHOODCategory:English terms derived from Old English#LIVELIHOOD līflād (“course of life, conduct”), from līf (“life”) +‎ lād (“course, journey”), later altered under the influence of lively, -hood. Compare life, lode.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪvlihʊd/Category:English 3-syllable words#LIVELIHOODCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LIVELIHOOD

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LIVELIHOOD
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪvlihʊd/Category:English 3-syllable words#LIVELIHOODCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LIVELIHOOD

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LIVELIHOOD
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪvlɪhʉd/Category:English 3-syllable words#LIVELIHOODCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LIVELIHOOD
• Rhymes: -aɪvlihʊdCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪvlihʊd#LIVELIHOODCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪvlihʊd/3 syllables#LIVELIHOOD

Noun

livelihood (countable and uncountable, plural livelihoods)Category:English lemmas#LIVELIHOODCategory:English nouns#LIVELIHOODCategory:English uncountable nouns#LIVELIHOODCategory:English countable nouns#LIVELIHOODCategory:English countable nouns#LIVELIHOODCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LIVELIHOODCategory:Pages with entries#LIVELIHOODCategory:Pages with 1 entry#LIVELIHOOD

1. A means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income). [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: living, subsistence, sustenance

   an independent livelihood;  to make / earn / gain / win a good livelihood by the sweat of one's browCategory:English terms with usage examples#LIVELIHOOD

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 226:

     But now when Philtra ſaw my lands decay,
     And former liuelod fayle, ſhe left me quight […].

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, “Sermon 2”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London, [https:// page 293]:

     […] 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 Livelihood; getting their Living by those Practices, for which they deserve to forfeit their Lives.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

   • 1716, Joseph Addison, The Free-Holder, London: D. Midwinter and J. Tonson, No. 42, Monday May 14, p. 245,

     Trade […] employs Multitudes of Hands both by Sea and Land, and furnishes the poorest of our Fellow-Subjects with the Opportunities of gaining an honest Livelihood.

   • 1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 1, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC:

     And now he’s dead, and left her a widow, and she is staying here; and we are racking our brains to find out some way of helping her to a livelihood without parting her from her child.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

   • 1967, Chaim Potok, chapter 1, in The Chosen‎, New York: Fawcett Crest, published 1982, page 10:

     [The Orthodox Jewish shopkeepers] could be seen behind their counters, wearing black skullcaps, full beards, and long earlocks, eking out their meager livelihoods and dreaming of Shabbat and festivals when they could close their stores and turn their attention to their prayers, their rabbi, their God.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 311, about Pen-clawdd:

     Broad, flat marshes on the Loughor Estuary provide Pen-clawdd with its basic livelihood - cockles. The cockle-women jog out over the marshes at low tide, riding on flat, horse-drawn carts.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

   • 2013, Matthew Claughton, The Guardian, (letter), 25 April:

     The legal profession believes that client choice is the best way of ensuring standards remain high, because a lawyer's livelihood depends upon their reputation.

2. (now rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#LIVELIHOOD) Property which brings in an income; an estate. [from 15th c.]
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts v:[3], folio clix, verso:

     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 […]?

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

3. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LIVELIHOOD) Liveliness; appearance of life.
   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 230, column 2:

     […] the tiranny of her ſorrowes takes all liuelihood from her cheeke.

     Category:English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOOD

4. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LIVELIHOOD) The course of someone's life; a person's lifetime, or their manner of living; conduct, behaviour. [10th–17th c.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     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 Englond & walys

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Category:Middle English terms with quotations#LIVELIHOODCategory:Requests for translations of Middle English quotations#LIVELIHOOD