From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Maintenance \Main"te*nance\, noun [OF. maintenance. See {Maintain}.]
1. The act of maintaining; sustenance; support; defense; vindication.
Whatsoever is granted to the church for God's honor and the maintenance of his service, is granted to God. --South.
2. That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.
Those of better fortune not making learning their maintenance. --Swift.
3. (Crim. Law) An officious or unlawful intermeddling in a cause depending between others, by assisting either party with money or means to carry it on. See {Champerty}. --Wharton.
4. Those actions required for the care of machinery, a building, etc., to keep it clean and in proper functioning condition, and to prevent or forestall damage due to normal use. [PJC]
5. Payments, such as child support or alimony, to a dependent child not living with one or to a divorced wife. [PJC]
{Cap of maintenance}. See under {Cap}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: activity involved in maintaining something in good working order; "he wrote the manual on car care" [syn: {care}, {upkeep}]
2: means of maintenance of a family or group
3: court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated [syn: {alimony}]
4: the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence; "they were in want of sustenance"; "fishing was their main sustainment" [syn: {sustenance}, {sustentation}, {sustainment}, {upkeep}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
128 Moby Thesaurus words for "maintenance": TLC, abidingness, age, aid, alimentation, alimony, allowance, antiquity, backing, bottling up, bread, care, carriage, carrying, conservancy, conservation, conservationism, constancy, continualness, continuance, continuation, continuity, contribution, corking up, daily bread, defeat of time, defiance of time, diuturnity, durability, durableness, duration, economic support, endowment, endurance, environmental conservation, extension, forest conservation, forest management, holding, holding in, inhibition, keep, keeping, lastingness, lengthening, livelihood, living, locking in, long standing, long-lastingness, long-livedness, longevity, maintaining, manna, meat, moral support, mothering, nourishment, nurture, paying the bills, perdurability, perennation, permanence, perpetuation, perpetuity, perseverance, persistence, prehension, preserval, preservation, price support, progress, progression, prolongation, protection, protraction, provision, psychological support, pursuance, reliance, repetition, repression, retainment, retention, retentiveness, retentivity, run, safekeeping, salt, salvage, salvation, saving, security blanket, soil conservation, stability, standing, standing treat, staying power, steadfastness, stipend, straight course, stream conservation, subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, support, supportive relationship, supportive therapy, suppression, survival, survivance, sustained action, sustaining, sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, tenacity, tender loving care, treat, uninterrupted course, unremittingness, upholding, upkeep, water conservation, way, wetlands conservation, wildlife conservation
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
maintenance The modification of a software product, after delivery, to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a changed environment. Maintenance is an important part of the {software life-cycle}. It is expensive in manpower and resources, and one of the aims of {software engineering} is to reduce its cost. (1996-12-27)
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