Maintain /(?)/

imp. & p. p. Maintained; p. pr. & vb. n. Maintaining

1. To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation.
2. To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish.

   God values . . . every one as he maintains his post.

3. To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.

   Maintain talk with the duke.

4. To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed.

   Glad, by his labor, to maintain his life.

   What maintains one vice would bring up two children.

5. To affirm; to support or defend by argument.

   It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it.