sustain

1. (transitive) To maintain, or keep in existence.Examples: "The professor had trouble sustaining students’ interest until the end of her lectures."; "The city came under sustained attack by enemy forces."; "Sam managed to sustain his erection for two straight hours."transitive

2. (transitive) To provide for or nourish.Examples: "provisions to sustain an army"; "Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not."; "We rode five farsakhs today, sustained by a single bowl of curds and tortured by the wooden saddles."Synonyms: holdtransitive

3. (transitive) To encourage or sanction (something).transitive

4. (transitive) To experience or suffer (an injury, etc.).Examples: "The building sustained major damage in the earthquake."; "[…] if you omit The offer of this time, I cannot promise But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces, With these you bear already."; "Shall Turnus then such endless Toil sustain, In fighting Fields, and conquer Towns in vain:"transitive

5. (transitive) To confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold.Examples: "to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition"; "After the vote is taken, the Chairman states that the decision of the Chair is sustained, or reversed, as the case may be."transitive

6. (law, of a judge) To allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid.Antonyms: overrule