sustain

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(sə-stān') pronunciation
tr.v., -tained, -tain·ing, -tains.
  1. To keep in existence; maintain.
  2. To supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for.
  3. To support from below; keep from falling or sinking; prop.
  4. To support the spirits, vitality, or resolution of; encourage.
  5. To bear up under; withstand: can't sustain the blistering heat.
  6. To experience or suffer: sustained a fatal injury.
  7. To affirm the validity of: The judge has sustained the prosecutor's objection.
  8. To prove or corroborate; confirm.
  9. To keep up (a joke or assumed role, for example) competently.

[Middle English sustenen, from Old French sustenir, from Latin sustinēre : sub-, from below; see sub- + tenēre, to hold.]

sustainability sus·tain'a·bil'i·ty n.
sustainable sus·tain'a·ble adj.
sustainer sus·tain'er n.
sustainment sus·tain'ment n.


Fowler's view in 1926 was that 'sustain as a synonym for suffer or receive or get belongs to the class of formal words, and is better avoided', and its use in the contexts of injuries, losses, hardship, etc., is still widely disliked. Fowler was anxious to confine it to circumstances that involved prolonged endurance
(Scarce one [of the cities] was now capable of sustaining a siege—Macaulay, 1849)
, but there is a thin line dividing this kind of brave resistance from more temporary kinds. In its other meanings, 'to keep in being', 'to maintain in a certain state', 'to give support to', and others, sustain is unexceptionable.

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verb

  1. To keep in a condition of good repair, efficiency, or use: keep up, maintain, preserve. See keep/release.
  2. To hold up: bear, carry, support. See over/under.
  3. To keep from yielding or failing during stress or difficulty: bolster, buoy (up), prop, support, uphold. See help/harm/harmless.
  4. To put up with: abide, accept, bear, brook2, endure, go, stand (for), stomach, suffer, support, swallow, take, tolerate, withstand. Informal lump2. Idioms: take it, take it lying down. See accept/reject.


v

Definition: endure, experience
Antonyms: abstain, discontinue, stop

v

Definition: keep up, maintain
Antonyms: discontinue, halt, stop

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

To carry on; to maintain. To affirm, uphold or approve, as when an appellate court sustains the decision of a lower court. To grant, as when a judge sustains an objection to testimony or evidence, he or she agrees with the objection and gives it effect.

(DOD) The provision of personnel, logistic, and other support required to maintain and prolong operations or combat until successful accomplishment or revision of the mission or of the national objective.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'sustainer'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to sustainer, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Sustain.

In music, sustain is a parameter of musical sound over time. As its name implies, it denotes the period of time during which the sound remains before it becomes inaudible, or silent.

Additionally, sustain is the third of the four segments in an ADSR envelope. The sustain portion of the ADSR envelope begins when the attack and decay portions have run their course, and continues until the key is released. The sustain control is used to determine the level at which the envelope will remain. While the attack, decay, and release controls are rate or time controls, the sustain control is a level control.

Contents

Differences

Drum percussion instruments are usually the instruments with the shortest sustain; a drum beat begins to fade almost instantly. Instruments with the highest possible sustain often involve the passage of air, such as brass or the pipe organ, which have theoretically unlimited sustain. Resonating instruments such as the piano and guitar also have fairly long sustain for string instruments.

Factors affecting sustain

Within a family of instruments, sustain is affected by a variety of factors. For example, sustain in guitars is determined by factors including body construction (hollow versus solid), body woods, neck woods, the placing of strings (through the body or atop the body), strings gauge and pickup design.

In electric guitars, bass guitar and pianos, dedicated effects pedals are available that prolong the sustain-phase of a tone. Its counterpart in synthesizers is the S (for sustain) in the ADSR envelope.

The sustain pedal is the electronic equivalent of a piano's damper pedal. In most synthesizers, the sustain pedal latches the envelopes of any currently playing or subsequently played notes at their sustain levels, even if the keys are lifted.

Increasing

There are musical devices used to increase sustain, known as "Sustainers", such as the patented Fernandes Sustainer guitar system and the EBow, which can be used to produce virtually infinite sustain.

There are many factors that affect the level of sustain in guitars. The most obvious ones are the quality of the production or manufacturing and the quality of the wood and other material. Larger string diameters have also been shown to increase sustain.[1]

Notes

See also


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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - bære, støtte, holde oppe, hjælpe, ernære, holde liv i, opretholde, godkende, anerkende, tåle, lide, udholde
n. - næring

Nederlands (Dutch)
volhouden, steunen, dragen, ondergaan

Français (French)
v. tr. - maintenir, poursuivre, (Mus) soutenir, tenir (note), donner des forces à, soutenir (moralement), appuyer (un régime, un marché), recevoir (un coup), éprouver (une perte), subir, essuyer (une défaite), (Jur) faire droit à, admettre (une objection)
n. - maintien, soutien

Deutsch (German)
v. - standhalten, aushalten, tragen, erhalten, erleiden, aufrechterhalten
n. - Unterstützung

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - βαστώ, κρατώ, αντέχω, υφίσταμαι, στηρίζω, διατρέφω, διατηρώ, παρατείνω τη διάρκεια, (νομ.) αποδέχομαι, τεκμηριώνω

Italiano (Italian)
sostenere, insistere

Português (Portuguese)
v. - sustentar

Русский (Russian)
подпирать, поддерживать, оказывать поддержку, придавать силы, не дать прекратиться, оборваться, угаснуть, испытывать, выдерживать, защищать, подтверждать, играть (роль), тянуть (звук), снабжать

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - sostener, sustentar, mantener, apoyar, perseverar, obstinarse, continuar
n. - sustento

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - tåla, hålla för, understödja, bekräfta, godkänna, upprätthålla, hålla igång, uthärda, utstå

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
支撑, 维持, 供养, 承受, 承担, 支援, 支撑的人物

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 支撐, 維持, 供養, 承受, 承擔, 支援
n. - 支撐的人物

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 떠받치다, 받다, 견디다
n. - 떠받침, 경험함

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 下から支える, 耐える, うける, こうむる, 経験する, 支持する, 励ます, 維持する, 継続する, 確認する, 立証する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يساند , يمد , يعزز‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮נשא, תמך, סבל, האריך, חיזק, קיים, החזיק, אישר, אימת, קיבל (אמירה במשפט)‬
n. - ‮תוצאת הארכת הצליל (מוסיקה)‬


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