maintenance

n.

1. The act of maintaining or the state of being maintained.
2. The work of keeping something in proper condition; upkeep.
3. 1. Provision of support or livelihood: took over the maintenance of her family.
   2. Means of support or livelihood: was ordered to pay maintenance for both children.
4. Law. The wrongful aiding of another in the pursuit or defense of a lawsuit, especially in jurisdictions where nonparties are legally prohibited to provide financial assistance.

[Middle English maintenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain. See maintain.]

(1) Hardware maintenance is the testing and cleaning of equipment.

(2) Information system maintenance is the routine updating of master files, such as adding and deleting employees and customers and changing credit limits and product prices.

(3) Software, or program, maintenance is the updating of application programs in order to meet changing information requirements, such as adding new functions and changing data formats. It also includes fixing bugs and adapting the software to new hardware devices.

(4) Disk or file maintenance is the periodic reorganizing of disk files that have become fragmented due to continuous updating.

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Activities required to compensate for Wear and Tear on a property. See Deferred Maintenance.
Example: Among the duties of Property Management is maintenance of the property. This includes routine upkeep of the building, repair and periodic painting as needed, keeping all mechanical parts in working order, and lawn maintenance.

Periodic expenditures undertaken to preserve or retain an asset's operational status for its originally intended use. These expenditures do not improve or extend the life of the asset. An example is the cost of a tune-up for an automobile. Maintenance is an expense and is distinguished from Capital Improvements, which are capitalized.

noun

The means needed to support life: alimentation, alimony, bread, bread and butter, keep, livelihood, living, subsistence, support, sustenance, upkeep. See money.

n

Definition: perpetuation, support; sustenance
Antonyms: desertion, forsaking, ignorance, neglect

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n

To keep in a functional state or in the proper location.

is an important aspect of military logistics and includes those activities needed to keep weapons, vehicles, and other materiel in an operable condition; to restore them to a serviceable condition when necessary; or to improve their usefulness through modifications. Such maintenance activities include inspection, testing, classification as to serviceability, adjustment, servicing, recovery, evacuation, repair, overhaul, and modification. Salvage and disposal are related functions.

Modern military equipment is complex and expensive and must be designed with reliability, durability, and ease of maintenance in mind. Thus, maintenance requirements, the potential usage of repair parts, and the tools and equipment needed to effect repairs are determined during the equipment development process, and operational capabilities must sometimes be sacrificed for greater reliability or ease of maintenance. Life cycle maintenance costs are also an important consideration inasmuch as the lifetime maintenance costs usually exceed an item's initial acquisition cost.

Traditionally, maintenance support has been divided into five levels, or echelons. User (first echelon) maintenance includes inspection, cleaning, tightening, lubrication, and minor adjustments performed by the equipment operator. Organizational (second echelon) maintenance is performed by unit maintenance personnel and involves recovery, evacuation, inspection, troubleshooting, and some replacement of parts and assemblies. Direct support (third echelon) maintenance is carried out by specialized maintenance units in fixed or semimobile maintenance facilities—or by mobile teams—and involves recovery, evacuation, inspection, replacement of major parts and assemblies, and the repair of some assemblies. Items repaired at the direct support level are normally returned to the using unit. General support (fourth echelon) maintenance involves the systematic repair and rebuilding of equipment and is generally performed by highly specialized maintenance units in fixed general support technical centers, each of which specializes in a particular type of equipment (e.g., combat vehicles or missiles). Items repaired or rebuilt at the general support level are returned to general stocks rather than to the using unit. Depot (fifth echelon) maintenance is also carried out by highly specialized maintenance personnel in fixed facilities; it involves the complete rebuilding of entire items and the renovation of major assemblies (such as motors or transmissions) for return to general stocks.

In recent years, the armed services have streamlined the maintenance process and now recognize only three echelons: user/direct support, intermediate/general support, and wholesale. In practice, the type and amount of work to be accomplished at each level is determined by the missions of the units involved, the probable operational situation, and the most cost‐effective use of available maintenance resources. The thrust of modern maintenance doctrine is to perform maintenance functions as far forward on the battlefield as possible by employing mobile repair teams, rapid battlefield recovery, and cannibalization (the reuse of serviceable parts taken from an otherwise unrepairable item). In general, it is easier and quicker to maintain a piece of equipment in a fully equipped fixed maintenance shop rather than in the field, but by maintaining equipment as far forward as possible, evacuation and repair time is minimized. Thus, the time an item is available to perform its combat function is increased.

Although some common maintenance support is provided by the General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency, each of the armed services has its own system to provide every level of maintenance support. Army wholesale maintenance activities are overseen by the U.S. Army Materiel Command, which controls seven commodity‐oriented subordinate commands, each of which specializes in a particular type of materiel (e.g., wheeled vehicles or communications‐electronics equipment). Most army units, including maintenance units themselves, are organized with organic maintenance personnel and equipment. Thus, an infantry company normally has an organic maintenance section and an infantry division has an organic direct support maintenance battalion. Intermediate/general support maintenance activities are usually controlled by combat service support commands (e.g., a corps support command or a theater army area command).

The U.S. Marine Corps operates two distinct maintenance systems of its own, although the navy provides aviation and medical supply and maintenance support. Marine Corps base maintenance activities provide all levels of support for commercial‐type equipment or contract out what is beyond their capability. Fleet Marine Force units are supported by a system similar to that of army field forces, with organic maintenance units backed by specialized direct and general support maintenance units. Wholesale maintenance activities are carried out at Marine Corps logistics bases in Georgia and California.

Responsibility for navy maintenance activities is assigned to the Navy Systems Command, which oversees a number of specialized commodity‐oriented commands (e.g., the Naval Air Systems Command for naval aviation repair and the Naval Sea Systems Command for shipyards and ship repair facilities). User/direct support–level maintenance is performed by the using ship or air squadron. Intermediate/general support–level maintenance is performed in local repair facilities, which include combat logistics force ships and overseas bases. Wholesale‐level maintenance is performed in navy or commercial facilities in the continental United States.

Air force maintenance activities are the responsibility of the Air Force Logistics Command, which monitors the operation of five Air Logistics Centers. These centers, located in Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and California, are centralized wholesale repair facilities. Retail aircraft maintenance is performed at air base level. For nontactical (transport and utility) aircraft, a centralized concept is employed, and the work is normally performed in fixed base maintenance facilities by air force maintenance squadrons. Tactical aircraft are also maintained by air force maintenance squadrons, using a more decentralized concept designed to produce the maximum number of combat sorties.

Effective and cost‐efficient maintenance systems are essential to the success of military forces on land, at sea, and in the air. The complexity of modern weapons systems and the large number of such systems deployed in all types of climatic and terrain require extraordinarily good design and effective maintenance procedures and personnel if they are to perform their intended functions. The ability to ensure that weapons, vehicles, and other equipment are available and function properly gives a military force a decided advantage over an opponent who does not have that ability.

[See also Weaponry.]

Bibliography

• Headquarters, Department of the Army, The Department of the Army, 1977.
• Headquarters, Department of the Army, Field Manual 54‐10: Logistics—An Overview of the Total System, 1977.
• United States Army War College, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, Materiel Logistics—Service Logistics: Concepts, Organization, and Planning, 1991

n. 1. all action taken to retain materiel in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability, to include inspection, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, and reclamation.

2. all supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.

3. the routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously used, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency for its intended purpose.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

The upkeep of a building and its equipment so that the building can continue to perform its required functions. See condition-based maintenance, corrective maintenance, deferred maintenance, emergency maintenance, periodic maintenance, planned maintenance, preventive maintenance, scheduled maintenance.

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Unauthorized intervention by a nonparty in a lawsuit, in the form of financial or other support and assistance to prosecute or defend the litigation. The preservation of an asset or of a condition of property by upkeep and necessary repairs.

A periodic monetary sum paid by one spouse for the benefit of the other upon separation or the dissolution of marriage; also called alimony or spousal support.

At common law the offense of champerty and maintenance arose when a stranger bargained with a party to a legal action, undertaking to pay for the litigation in exchange for a promise of a portion of the recovery. The common-law doctrines of champerty and maintenance were designed to stop vexatious and speculative litigation supported by officious intermeddlers (nonparties with improper motives). These common-law principles have been adopted in varying degrees in the United States, depending on the particular state.

The term maintenance is also used to describe the expenses of preserving property, which may be deductible according to the applicable state or federal tax laws. Maintenance expenses are typically recurring, with the goal of preserving the particular asset in its original condition, to prolong its useful life. Maintenance differs from a repair because a repair is an expenditure designed to return an asset to its normal operating condition.

In family law maintenance is often used as a synonym for spousal support or alimony, and the term is in fact replacing alimony. Traditionally, alimony was solely the right of the wife to be supported by the husband. In Orr v. Orr, 440 U.S. 268, 99 S. Ct. 1102, 59 L. Ed. 2d 306 (1979), the U.S. Supreme Court held that an Alabama statute (Ala. Code § 30-2-51 to 30-2-53 [1975]) that provided that only husbands could be required to pay alimony violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Under current law alimony may be payment by either the wife or the husband in support of the other.

The award of spousal maintenance is generally determined based on all or some of the following guidelines: the recipient's financial needs; the payer's ability to pay; the age and health of the parties; the standard of living the recipient became accustomed to during the marriage; the length of the marriage; each party's ability to earn and be self-supporting; and the recipient's nonmonetary contributions to the marriage.

The amount and length of spousal maintenance payments may be agreed to by the parties and approved of by the court, or may be set by the court when the issue is contested. Some states have adopted financial schedules to help judges determine the appropriate level of support. Although maintenance generally takes the form of periodic payments of money directly to the recipient, it can also constitute a payment to a third party to satisfy an obligation of the receiving spouse. Maintenance may be set in a predetermined amount, such as $1,000 a month, or it may be a fluctuating percentage, such as 25 percent of the payer's gross income.

Spousal maintenance may be temporary or permanent. The parties generally may adjust its amount at a future date by returning to court and reassessing the relevant criteria at that time. In some states the parties may forever waive their right to spousal maintenance by written agreement.

Spousal maintenance payments always cease upon the death or remarriage of the recipient. Some states have adopted laws that provide for the termination of maintenance when the payer can show that the recipient is living with another person as if married, but has not remarried because he or she wants to continue to receive maintenance payments. Maintenance also generally terminates upon the death of the payer, although a minority of states will grant the receiving spouse a claim on the estate of the paying spouse. Alternatively, many states require the paying spouse to carry insurance on his or her life, payable to the recipient spouse, in lieu of granting the recipient the right to make a claim on the payer's estate.

Spousal maintenance that is periodic and made in discharge of a legal obligation is included in the gross income of the recipient and is deductible by the payer. Other voluntary payments, made by one spouse to the other, are not treated the same way by the tax code.

See: divorce.

IN BRIEF: That which supports or sustains.

The maintenance crew kept the sports arena clean and in good repair.

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Common misspelling(s) of maintenance

• maintainance
• maintainence
• maintenence
• maintance

Dansk (Danish)
n. - vedligeholdelse, opretholdelse, bevarelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
onderhoud, handhaving, levensonderhoud, illegale steun aan procesvoerende partij (m.n. geldelijk)

Français (French)
n. - entretien, pension alimentaire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Instandhaltung, Wartung, Aufrechterhaltung, Unterhalt, illegale Prozeßhilfe

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διατήρηση, συντήρηση, υποστήριξη, (οικον.) δαπάνες συντηρήσεως, (νομ.) προσωρινή διατροφή

Italiano (Italian)
manutenzione, mantenimento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - manutenção, subsistência

Русский (Russian)
поддержание, содержание, защита, средства к существованию, техническое обслуживание

Español (Spanish)
n. - conservación, mantenimiento, manutención, subsistencia, sustento, pensión alimenticia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - uppehållande, underhåll, försvar, försörjning, förfäktande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
维护, 维修, 保持

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 維護, 維修, 保持

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 지속, 보유, 옹호, 보전, 부양

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 持続, 保守, 維持, 扶養, 生計, 訴訟幇助, 擁護, 主張

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) صيانه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אחזקה, תחזוקה, פרנסה, תמיכה, דמי-מזונות, התמדה, המשך‬

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Joint Maintenance For Large Dogs	Verbena Flowers- Maintenance