SUBSIST'ENCY, n. Real being; as a chain of differing subsistencies.
Not only the things had subsistence, but the very images were of some creatures existing.
1. Competent provisions; means of supporting life.
His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province.
2. That which supplies the means of living; as money, pay or wages.
3. Inherence in something else, as the subsistence of qualities in bodies.