sustain

Meanings

Verb

• To maintain, or keep in existence.
• To provide for or nourish.
• To encourage or sanction (something).
• To experience or suffer (an injury, etc.).
• To confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold.
• To allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid.
• To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support.
• To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.

Noun

• A mechanism which can be used to hold a note, as the right pedal on a piano.

Origin

• From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustineō, from sub- + teneō.