Definition of "œconomy"

At the age of seventeen or eighteen, they should be indulged, even FOR A MORAL PURPOSE, in fishing, shooting, hunting*, tennis, cricket, and all other diversions consistent with safety, good company, health†, and œconomy.

1785, Vicesimus Knox, Liberal Education: Or, a Practical Treatise on the Methods of Acquiring Useful and Polite Learning, §XXXI: on the regulation of puerile diversions, part 4

Its strong taste, its tendency to deliquiate, and indeed all its properties, lead us to think, that it would act powerfully on the animal œconomy […]

1790, Antoine-François de Fourcroy, Elements of natural history, and of chemistry