All 3 Uses

sustain
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
(Auto-generated)

The apparent impossibility of sustaining unobnoxious behavior for even part of the day weighs heavily on the lad, and overwhelms him with a claustrophobia as impenetrable as the claustrophobia of church itself.†
p. 178.5
On those rare occasions when we watched television without my grandmother, we were disappointed; without Grandmother's running, scathing commentary, there were few programs that could sustain our interest.†
p. 264.9
If Major Rawls had earned a battlefield commission, he had earned his measure of cynicism, too; the major spoke in sustained, explosive bursts—like rounds of fire from an automatic weapon.†
p. 599.9 *

Definitions:

(1) (sustain as in: sustained by her faith)
provide support or necessities
(2) (sustain as in: sustained through the ages)
to continue through time
(3) (sustain as in: sustained wounds)
to suffer (as of injury, damage, or loss)
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
Less commonly, sustained can be voiced by a judge in a court of law to indicate that an objection is upheld.