Definition of sustain

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sus·tain    (s-stn) KEY 

TRANSITIVE VERB:
sus·tained, sus·tain·ing, sus·tains

1. To keep in existence; maintain.
2. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for.
3. To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.
4. To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage.
5. To bear up under; withstand: can't sustain the blistering heat.
6. To experience or suffer: sustained a fatal injury.
7. To affirm the validity of: The judge has sustained the prosecutor's objection.
8. To prove or corroborate; confirm.
9. To keep up (a joke or assumed role, for example) competently.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English sustenen, from Old French sustenir, from Latin sustinre : sub-, from below ; see sub- + tenre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots

OTHER FORMS:
sus·taina·bili·ty(Noun), sus·taina·ble(Adjective), sus·tainer(Noun), sus·tainment(Noun)