the act of providing approval and support

The state of being a sponsor, countable and uncountable The aid or support provided by a sponsor; backing or patronage, the act of sponsoring (either officially or financially)

The act of advertising, A notice, such as a poster or a paid announcement in the print, broadcast, or electronic media, designed to attract public attention or patronage

A regularly paid gratuity paid regularly as benefit due to a person in consideration of past services; notably to one retired from service, on account of retirement age, disability or similar cause; especially, a regular stipend paid by a government to retired public officers, disabled soldiers; sometimes passed on to the heirs, or even specifically for them, as to the families of soldiers killed in service, A stated regular allowance by way of patronage or subsidy, e.g. to meritorious artists, or the like, a regular payment to a person that is intended to allow them to subsist without working, verb_ grant a pension to, To force someone to retire on a pension, transitive verb_ To grant a pension to; to pay a regular stipend to; in consideration of service already performed; -- sometimes followed by off,

The act of competing, as for profit or a prize; rivalry, A competitor, The act of seeking, or endeavoring to gain, what another is endeavoring to gain at the same time; common strife for the same objects; strife for superiority; emulous contest; rivalry, as for approbation, for a prize, or as where two or more persons are engaged in the same business and each seeking patronage; -- followed by for before the object sought, and with before the person or thing competed with