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t in making a knot of the like. -- Standing rigging (Naut.), the cordage or rope which sustain the masts and remain fixed in their position, as the shrouds and stays, - - distinguished from running rigging.

To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute. Sir W. Scott.

To keep within limits; to restain; to cause to stop, or cease; to stint. Then would he weep, he might not be stent. Chaucer. Yet n'ould she stent Her bitter railing and foul revilement. Spenser.

Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization. The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him. Bp. Hall. All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery. Sir G. Buck.…

ss of a mirror; a mirror. [Obs.] Lend me a looking-glass; If that her breath will mist or stain the stone, Why, then she lives. Shak.

Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery a…

Solid; tough; not easily broken or injured; able to withstand violence; able to sustain attacks; not easily subdued or taken; as, a strong beam; a strong rock; a strong fortress or town.

One who succeeds or follows; one who takes the place which another has left, and sustains the like part or character; -- correlative to predecessor; as, the successor of a deceased king. Chaucer. A gift to a corporation, either of lands or of chattels, without naming their successors, vests an absolute property in them…

To endure or undergo without sinking; to support; to sustain; to bear up under. Our spirit and strength entire, Strongly to suffer and support our pains. Milton.

One who suffers; one who endures or undergoes suffering; one who sustains inconvenience or loss; as, sufferers by poverty or sickness; men are sufferers by fire or by losses at sea.

To soil; to dirty; to spot; to tarnish; to stain; to darken; -- used literally and figuratively; as, to sully a sword; to sully a person's reputation. Statues sullied yet with sacrilegious smoke. Roscommon. No spots to sully the brightness of this solemnity. Atterbury.

To bear by being under; to keep from falling; to uphold; to sustain, in a literal or physical sense; to prop up; to bear the weight of; as, a pillar supports a structure; an abutment supports an arch; the trunk of a tree supports the branches.

Especially, an adherent; one who sustains, advocates, and defends; as, the supporter of a party, faction, or candidate.

tle into, as a common, than the person has a right to do, or more than the herbage will sustain. Blackstone.

The act of sustaining; support; maintenance; subsistence; as, the sustenance of the body; the sustenance of life.

Supporting; sustaining; as, a sustentacular tissue.

To sustain. [R.] C. Reade.

The act of sustaining, or the state of being sustained; preservation from falling; support; sustenance; maintenance.

Adapted to sustain, strengthen, or corroborate; as, sustentative citations or quotations. Sustentative functions (Physiol.), those functions of the body which affect its material composition and thus determine its mass.

m." Miss Edgeworth. -- To swear off, to make a solemn vow, or a serious resolution, to abstain from something; as, to swear off smoking. [Slang]