A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1400-1513, 1567-1595
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Sustenance, -ans, n. Also: sustenaunce, -ence, sustinance, -aunce, -ens, sustynance, sustunens, sustentans. [ME and e.m.E. sustinaunce (c1290), sustenance (1297), sustynaunce (Manning), sustenaunce (Chaucer), OF soutenance (c1265 in Larousse); f. as Susten(e v.]
1. Means of sustaining life; food, nourishment. Also fig. ?14.. Ship Laws c. 6 (A.).
The maister … aw to gif him sic sustenans that is to wyt sic as quhen he was in the schip 1456 Hay I 240/13.
The labourage of the erde is … for the wynnyng of mannis sustenaunce c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace x 552.
Off nolt and scheip thai tuk at sufficiens, Tharoff full sone that get thaim sustinens 1490 Irland Mir. I 34/19.
We desyre temporale gud and oure sustinaunce in this present waurld 1513 Doug. viii Prol. 47.
Sum sellis folkis sustynance [Sm. sustinance, Ruddim. sustenance] as God sendis the feir 1595 Culross I 133.
The puir anes living within the parochin … ar famysched and ar all to die for fault of sustentansfig. a1568 Bannatyne MS I p. 22/14.
In God that is … My haill desyre and my full sustinance
2. The action of sustaining (life) with food. 1456 Hay II 163/24.
Grete plentee of fruytis for mannis sustenaunce, quhen thai ar wele grathit a1500 Henr. Fab. Prol. 11.
The corne … Hailsum and gude to mannis sustenence [Ch. sustenance, Makc. sustunens]
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"Sustenance n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sustenance>
