Sus·tained a. Held up to a certain pitch, degree, or level; uniform; as, sustained pasion; a sustained style of writing; a sustained note in music.
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Sus·tain v. t. [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. --Chaucer.
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. --Tillotson.
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. --Dryden.
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? --Dryden.
You shall sustain more new disgraces. --Shak.
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.
Syn: -- To support; uphold; subsist; assist; relieve; suffer; undergo.
sustained
adj 1: maintained at length without interruption or weakening;
"sustained flight"
2: (of an electric arc) continuous; "heat transfer to the anode
in free burning arcs" [syn: free burning]