Sustain /(?)/

imp. & p. p. Sustained; p. pr. & vb. n. Sustaining

1. To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support; as, a foundation sustains the superstructure; a beast sustains a load; a rope sustains a weight.

   Every pillar the temple to sustain.

2. Hence, to keep from sinking, as in despondence, or the like; to support.

   No comfortable expectations of another life to sustain him under the evils in this world.

3. To maintain; to keep alive; to support; to subsist; to nourish; as, provisions to sustain an army.
4. To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.

   His sons, who seek the tyrant to sustain.

5. To endure without failing or yielding; to bear up under; as, to sustain defeat and disappointment.
6. To suffer; to bear; to undergo.

   Shall Turnus, then, such endless toil sustain?

   You shall sustain more new disgraces.

7. To allow the prosecution of; to admit as valid; to sanction; to continue; not to dismiss or abate; as, the court sustained the action or suit.
8. To prove; to establish by evidence; to corroborate or confirm; to be conclusive of; as, to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition.

1. One who, or that which, upholds or sustains; a sustainer. [Obs.]

   I waked again, for my sustain was the Lord.