n. The act or the condition of existing; the state of having life; power of continuing life.n. Period of life; term of existence.n. Manner or course of life: as, holy living.n. Means of subsistence; estate; livelihood.n. Specifically— An ecclesiastical office by virtue of which the clerk or incumbent has the right to enjoy certain church revenues on condition of discharging certain services prescribed by the canons, or by usage, or by the conditions under which the office has been founded. (See induction, 2.) In the reign of Henry VIII. a system of “pluralities” was established, whereby the same clerk might hold two or more livings; but in the reign of Victoria this privilege, which was attended with great abuses, has been repeatedly abridged; and no clerk may now hold two livings unless the churches so attached are within three miles of each other, and the annual value of one of them does not exceed one hundred pounds.n. (b) The income from a benefice; ecclesiastical revenue.n. The seat of the office; a parish.n. A farm.n. Synonyms living, Livelihood, Subsistence, Sustenance, Support, Maintenance. These words differ essentially, as their derivations suggest. To make a living or a livelihood is to earn enough to keep alive on with economy, not barely enough to maintain life, nor snfficient to live in luxury. Livelihood is a rather flner and less material word than living. Subsistence and sustenance refer entirely to food: subsistence is that which keeps one in existence or animal life; sustenance is that which holds one up. Support and maintenance, like living and livelihood, cover necessary expenses. To guarantee a man his support is to promise money to cover all expenses proper to economical living, or such living as may be agreed upon. Maintenance may be applied to expensive living. An honest livelihood; a bare living; bare subsistence; scanty sustenance; ample support; an honorable maintenance at the university.Being alive; having life or vitality; not dead: as, a living animal or plant.In actual existence; having present vigor or vitality; now in action or use; not lifeless, stagnant, inert, or disused: applied to things: as, living languages; a living spring; living faith.Furious; fierce: applied by seamen to a gale: as, a living gale of wind.Existing in the original state and place; being as primarily formed and situated: only in the phrases living rock, living stone.