from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun Law An allowance for support made under court order to a divorced person by the former spouse, usually the chief provider during the marriage. Alimony may also be granted without a divorce, as between legally separated persons.
noun A means of livelihood; maintenance.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun In law: An allowance which a husband or former husband may be forced to pay to his wife or former wife, living legally separate from him, for her maintenance.
noun In Scots law, aliment.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun Maintenance; means of living.
noun (Law) An allowance made to a wife out of her husband's estate or income for her support, upon her divorce or legal separation from him, or during a suit for the same.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun law A court-enforcedallowance made to a former spouse by a divorced or legallyseparated person.
noun The means to supportlife.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin alimōnia, sustenance, from alere, to nourish; see al- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Known since 1655, from Latin alimonia ("food, support, nourishment, sustenance") (English aliment, as in alimentary), itself from alere ("to nourish") + -monia ("action, state, condition").
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Examples
The other thing to bear in mind is that in a long-term marriage of 30, 35 or 40 years, long term alimony often doesn't mean "long term" for the simple reason that people in their mid- to late 50's are often approaching retirement age.
Feminists advocate for equality and independence for women, then turn around and expect men to support women in alimony, child custody, the alienation of fathers, and a blind eye to female battering.
Even in the more common case of short-term alimony, courts are ditching that insulting "" rehab '' term, ordering larger monthly awards and arranging to check in five years to see how wives are doing.
bilby commented on the word alimony
"Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse."
- Groucho Marx.
December 24, 2007
hernesheir commented on the word alimony
Railway telegraphers' shorthand for "Do they agree to?". --US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code, 1906.
January 19, 2013