livelihood

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income).

   “an independent livelihood;  to make / earn / gain / win a good livelihood by the sweat of one's brow”

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

   “[…] 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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. (archaic, countable, uncountable)Property which brings in an income; an estate.

   “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[…]?”

3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Liveliness; appearance of life.

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

4. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The course of someone's life; a person's lifetime, or their manner of living; conduct, behaviour.

   “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”