[Shortening of SUBSISTENCE.] Payment of wages on account; = SUB sb. 7.
1855. [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall, 146. There is a custom of advancing money to the miners called subsist, that they may live until the value of their two months’ earnings is determined.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 65.
b. attrib., in subsist money, = SUBSISTENCE MONEY 1; subsist week, a week for which subsist money is paid.
1835. in N. & Q., Ser. IX. (1900), VI. 246/2. Agree to pay … Subsist Money each and every fortnight in such sums as may be agreeable to the Parties.
1843. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., VI. 22/2. In the preceding account, no notice is taken of truck system, tommy shops … or subsist money. Ibid. The cuttings are measured generally every fortnight, the intervening time being subsist weeks, when the pay is on account.
