alimentary
/alɪˈmɛnt(ə)ri
/adjective
Relating to nourishment or sustenance.Indeed, the visitors enact the alimentary behavior of the oasis dwellers, but in so doing, they experience their own civilized difference from and advantage over the ‘natives.’...
- Total parenteral nutrition is a preparation of nutrients given via intravenous infusion to patients, of any age, who cannot feed normally through the alimentary tract.
- Mammalian examples are the intertwining of the alimentary and digestive systems or the reproductive and excretory systems, which often require medical intervention.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin alimentarius, from alimentum 'nourishment' (see aliment).
alimony from early 17th century:
Today alimony means ‘provision for a husband or wife after divorce’ (what is usually called maintenance in Britain). Originally, though, in the early 17th century, it simply meant ‘nourishment or means of subsistence’. It comes from Latin alere ‘nourish’, which is the root of words such as adolescent, alimentary (Late Middle English) and coalesce (mid 16th century) ‘grow up, nourish together’.