SUBSIST', verb intransitive [Latin subsisto; sub and sisto, to stand, to be fixed.]

1. To be; to have existence; applicable to matter or spirit.

2. To continue; to retain the present state.

Firm we subsist but possible to swerve.

3. To live; to be maintained with food and clothing. How many of the human race subsist on the labors of others! How many armies have subsisted on plunder!

4. To inhere; to have existence by means of something else; as qualities that subsist in substances.

SUBSIST', verb transitive To feed; to maintain; to support with provisions. The king subsisted his troops on provisions plundered from the enemy.