Search the Dictionary

A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass.

To endure; to sustain; to bear; as, I can not stand the cold or the heat.

art 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.

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 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.

attle 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.

s genius. Burke. Full swing. See under Full. -- Swing beam (Railway Mach.), a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it may have an independent lateral motion. -- Swing bridge, a form of drawbridge which swings horizontally, as on a vertical pivot. -- Swing plow, or Swi…

vilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, -- used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially soldiers in camp. Within his tent, large as is a barn. Chaucer.

's self on or upon. (a) To fall upon. (b) To resign one's self to the favor, clemency, or sustain power of (another); to repose upon. -- To throw out. (a) To cast out; to reject or discard; to expel. "The other two, whom they had thrown out, they were content should enjoy their exile." Swift. "The bill was thrown out.…