life-supportingadj.
/ˈlʌɪf səˌpɔːtɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈlaɪf səˌpɔrdɪŋ/ That can or does support or sustain life; necessary for life. In later use also: of or relating to life support (life support n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [adjective] > necessary to or supporting life
livelyOE
sustantivea1500
vital1558
life-supporting1610
sustenant1874
biotrophic1902
life support1959
1610 R. Davies Chesters Triumph sig. C3 Your life-supporting staffe, The staffe of bread; I'le throw abroad like chaffe.
1744 H. Brooke Female Seducers in E. Moore Fables Females Sex xv. 146 The life-supporting grain.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion v. 201 One rude House, And its small lot of life-supporting fields. View more context for this quotation
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals II. xviii. 268 The means..for rejecting from the body the residuum after the secernment..of the finer life-supporting products.
1889 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 16 308 The temperature limit to life-supporting waters appears to vary in different localities.
1929 H. W. Shimer Evol. & Man ii. 14 The only improvement upon the ocean, as a life-supporting medium, is the circulating fluid of the warm-blooded animal.
1985 B. Sterling Schismatrix (1986) 268 The routines of his body were subsumed within the life-supporting rhythms of his suit.
2001 Nat. Home July–Aug. 38 Permaculture uses the inherent qualities of plants and animals combined with the natural characteristics of landscapes and structures to produce a life-supporting system for city and country.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1610