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To discolor by the application of foreign matter; to make foul; to spot; as, to stain the hand with dye; armor stained with blood.

One who stains or tarnishes.

Free from stain; immaculate. Shak. The veery care he took to keep his name Stainless, with some was evidence of shame. Crabbe.

In a stainless manner.

and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt Shak.

One who abstains; esp., one who abstains from the use of intoxicating liquors.

To stain.

To tinge with a different color from the natural or proper one; to stain; to discolor; to sully; to tarnish; to defile; -- used chiefly in poetry. "Distained with dirt and blood." Spenser. [She] hath . . . distained her honorable blood. Spenser. The worthiness of praise distains his worth. Shak.

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.

Capable of being sustained or maintained; as, the action is not sustainable.

Held up to a certain pitch, degree, or level; uniform; as, sustained pasion; a sustained style of writing; a sustained note in music.

One who, or that which, sustains. Waterland.

The act of sustaining; maintenance; support. Milton. Lowell.

To endure; to sustain; to submit to. [Thou] shalt abide her judgment on it. Tennyson.

particularly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage.

Abstaining from wine. [Orig. Latin sense.] Under his special eye Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain. Milton.

The act of abstaining; a holding aloof. Jer. Taylor.

The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also total abstinence. The abstinence from…

One who abstains.

Tissue which is not stained by fluid dyes. W. Flemming.