subsist

English

Etymology

From Latin subsistō (“halt, stop”), from sub (“below”) + sistō (“stand, place”). Compare consist, desist, exist, insist, persist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səbˈsɪst/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪst

Verb

subsist (third-person singular simple present subsists, present participle subsisting, simple past and past participle subsisted)

1. To survive on a minimum of resources.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:

     It cannot be denied it is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.

   • 1709 December 6, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preach’d before the Sons of the Clergy, London: Jonah Bowyer, page 28:

     Let us, this day, imitate his Example in both theſe Reſpects ; and whilſt we are enjoying the good things of Life, let us remember Thoſe that want even the Neceſſaries and firſt Conveniences of it : And remember them, as We ourſelves ſhould have deſired to be remembred, had it been our ſad Lot, to ſubſiſt on other Mens Charity.

2. (chiefly philosophy) To have ontological reality; to exist.
   • 1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. , epistle IV, London: Printed for J Wilford, , →OCLC, page 63, lines 33–36:

     Remember Man! "the Univerſal Cauſe / Acts not by partial, but by gen’ral Laws ; / And makes what Happineſs we juſtly call / Subſiſt not in the Good of one, but all.

3. To retain a certain state; to continue.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 359–63:

     Firm we ſubſiſt, yet poſſible to ſwerve / Since Reaſon not impoſſibly may meet / Some ſpecious object by the Foe ſubornd, / And fall into deception unaware, / Not keeping ſtricteſt watch, as ſhe was warnd.

   • 1787, “The History of Europe”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Years 1784 and 1785, volume XXVII, London: Printed by J[ames] Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, →OCLC, chapter VIII, page 134, column 1:

     It was impoſſible that the queen of France [Marie Antoinette] ſhould not be deeply affected by a conteſt, which ſo cloſely involved her neareſt and deareſt connections, and threatened ſo immediate and perhaps irreparable a breach of the harmony and friendſhip ſubſiſting between them.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To supply sustenance or subsistence to or for.
   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 15:

     With mutual toil, and intuitive dexterity, we built our commodious habitation in the hollow of a mango tree, that the fruit, which was then in bloſſom, might ſubſiſt our young.

Derived terms

• consubsist

Related terms

• subsistence
• subsistent

Translations

See also

• subside

Further reading

• “subsist”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “subsist”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.