maintenance

Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.

(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.

(law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.

(law) Child support.

Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.

(biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.