Friday, May 8, 2009

aliment

aliment \AL-uh-muhnt\, noun:

1. Something that nourishes or feeds; nutriment.
2. Something that sustains a state of mind or body; sustenance.
3. To give nourishment to; to nourish or sustain.

Mental health depends upon gastric health. Every ailment stems from improper aliment.
-- Frederick Kaufman, "Love Yourself Thin", Harper's Magazine, January 2000
Is not truth the natural aliment of the mind, as plainly as the wholesome grain is of the body?
-- William Ellery Channing, "On the Elevation of the Laboring Classes: Lecture II"
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.
-- James Madison, "Federalist", Number 10

Aliment is derived from Latin alimentum, from alere, "to nourish." It is related to alimony.

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