Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUB-SIST'ENCE, or SUB-SIST'EN-CY, n. [Fr. subsistence; It. sussistenza.]

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