maintenance

Etymology

From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). Surface analysis is maintain + -ance. Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.

noun

1. Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
   They are all preventable by proper maintenance, but non-safety critical maintenance has to be evaluated, so failures are an accepted penalty for keeping maintenance costs down. 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42
2. (law) A tort and (in some jurisdictions) an offence committed when a third party who does not have a bona fide interest in a lawsuit provides help or acquires an interest to a litigant's lawsuit.
3. (law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.
4. (law) Child support.
5. Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.
6. (biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.