c.1300, "household allowance of any kind (food, provisions, clothing) to retainers or servants," from Anglo-Fr.
livere (1292), O.Fr.
livrée, originally "(clothes) delivered by a master to his servants," from fem. pp. of
livrer "to dispense, deliver, hand over," from L.
liberare (see
liberate). The sense later was reduced to "servants' rations" and "provender for horses" (c.1440). The former led to the meaning "distinctive clothing given to servants" (c.1325); the latter now is obsolete except in
livery stable (1705).
[liv-uh-ree, liv-ree] 
