[a. OF. subvencion, -tion, = Pr. subventio, It. sovvenzione, Sp. subvencion, Pg. subvenção, ad. late L. subventio, -ōnem, n. of action f. subvenīre to SUBVENE.]
1. A subsidy levied by the state. Obs. exc. Hist.
14[?]. Secr. Secr., MS. Ashm. 396 fo. 2. Of kynges aides and subvencioun.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 1818. Grace Dieu ffor to exile By dyuers extorsyons Of dymes or Subvencions, or taylladges iffounde newe.
1868. Milman, St. Paul’s, iv. 89. Convocation proceeded to the less important affair of a subvention to the King.
† 2. The provision of help, support or relief. Also, an instance of this. Obs.
1535. W. Marshall (title), The Forme and Maner of Subvention, or Helpying for pore People, devysed and practysed in the Cytie of Hypres in Flanders.
1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), I. 6/2. Suche goods were geuen to the church … to serue the publique subuention of the nedy.
1625. Ussher, Answ. Jesuit, 374. By way of subuention, in helping those out whom at the time of his death he found there.
1657. Twysden, Vindic. Ch. Eng., iv. 80. 100. They sometimes exhorted Christians to the subvention of the Holy Land.
1737. Stackhouse, Hist. Bible, VI. ii. (1749), 845. The Manner, in which he is said to have been carry’d up, was, by the Subvention of a Cloud.
3. A grant of money for the support of an object or institution; occas. a grant in aid of necessitous persons; now esp. a grant from government or some other authority in support of an enterprise of public importance.
1851. Gallenga, Italy, 85. By screening from losses the appaltatori, or shop-keepers, who farmed the public revenues, by private subventions.
1854. Milman, Lat. Chr., I. Introd. 3. They [sc. the Greek churches] were often bound together by mutual charitable subventions.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. iii. (1872), I. 22. The Crown-Prince … begged some dole or subvention for these poor people.
1860. Mrs. W. P. Byrne, Undercurr. Overl., II. 96. Subventions to madhouses, foundling hospitals, &c.
1881. Nature, XXIV. 426. The French Government have resolved to grant a subvention for erecting a statue.
1891. Spectator, 27 June., 882/1. Mr. Gladstone is quite right in suggesting that the resources of English wealth for the purpose of providing subventions for the Colonial Episcopate, are by no means exhausted even now.
4. The granting of pecuniary aid for the support of an undertaking.
1868. Rogers, Poi. Econ., ix. (1876), 97. By inducing the possessor to export his capital in foreign loans, or for the subvention of foreign industry.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., V. xxxii. 119. The ministry confessed its inability to reduce the colonies except by the subvention of foreign troops.
1894. Daily News, 8 June, 3/4. They had not to pay anything towards the subvention of rural roads.
Hence Subvention v. [cf. F. subventionner] trans., to support or assist by the payment of a subvention. (Only in pa. pple.)
1868. Daily News, 10 Nov., 5/4. It is a very old rule of that national and subventioned establishment [the Théâtre Français], that no new play shall be accepted unless read in the green-room before the actors and actresses.
1880. Sat. Rev., No. 1289. 52. 12 per cent. were French vessels subventioned by the Government.
1885. American, IX. 362. The society has from time to time subventioned learned works.
1904. Daily Tel., 18 July, 8/6. The German subventioned steamer Prinz Heinrich.
1909. Expositor, July, 85. The German Oriental Society, subventioned by the German Emperor.
