All 3 Uses of
sustain
in
A Prayer for Owen Meany
- 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 *sustaining = providing support or necessities
- 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) 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.