Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AL-I-MENT'A-RY, a.

Pertaining to aliment or food; having the quality of nourishing; as, alimentary particles. The alimentary canal, in animal bodies, is the great duct or intestine, by which aliments are conveyed through the body, and the useless parts evacuated. Alimentary law, among the Romans, was a law which obliged children to support their parents. – Encyc. Obligation of aliment, in Scots law, is the natural obligation of parents to provide for their children. – Encyc.