Maintain
[meɪn'teɪn;mən'teɪn] or [men'ten]
Definition
(v. t.) To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation.
(v. t.) To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish.
(v. t.) To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.
(v. t.) To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed.
(v. t.) To affirm; to support or defend by argument.
Inputed by Andre
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Sustain, support, preserve, uphold, keep.[2]. Defend, vindicate, assert, justify.[3]. Continue, keep up, carry on.[4]. Provide food for, supply with means of living.
v. n. Affirm, aver, allege, say, contend, hold the opinion, hazard the opinion.
Typist: Steven
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See SUPPORT]
Checked by Chiquita
Definition
v.t. to keep in any state: to keep possession of: to preserve from capture or loss: to carry on: to keep up: to support: to make good: to support by argument: to affirm: to defend.—v.i. to affirm as a position: to assert.—adj. Maintain′able that can be supported or defended.—ns. Maintain′er one who maintains; Main′tenance the act of maintaining supporting or defending: continuance: the means of support: defence protection: (law) an interference in a lawsuit &c. in favour of one of the parties by one who has no right or interest.—Cap of maintenance a cap of dignity borne by or before nobles and other persons of rank.
Checker: Nicole
Examples
- And the lips that shall refuse to pledge me to his well-earned fame, I term false and dishonoured, and will so maintain them with my life. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- The jealousy of the artist to maintain that reputation, which his ingenuity has justly acquired, has urged him to unnecessary pains on this subject. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Hence it was necessary to maintain a constant vigilance to defeat the insidious attacks of carping critics and others who would attempt to injure the Edison system by misleading statements. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I have heard people maintain that: it makes no difference whether women want the ballot, or are fit for it, or can do any good with it,--this country is a democracy. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- With all deference to you, he said, and with all deference to your legal adviser, I maintain the opinion which I expressed just now. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Not much argument was needed to maintain the truth of a theory which to his own contemporaries seemed so natural and congenial. Plato. The Republic.
- Yet no one would seriously maintain that the West is more progressive because it has progressive laws. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In this a vacuum is maintained by a condenser, the vapors passing from the pan to the condenser through the great curved pipe rising from the top, which pipe is five feet in diameter. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Volta of Pavia, took decided issue with Galvani and maintained that the pretended animal electricity was nothing but electricity developed by the contact of two different metals. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- It is called a siphon recorder because the record is made by a little glass siphon down which a flow of ink is maintained like a fountain pen. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Some authors have maintained that the amount of variation in our domestic productions is soon reached, and can never afterward be exceeded. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The draught is maintained by placing the apparatus on a couple of bricks, and regulated by closing the intervening space with mud, leaving only a sufficient aperture to keep the fire burning. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- In such cases their internal freedom was maintained by a royal or imperial charter. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- So close was this resemblance, that a native Dyak maintained that the foliaceous excrescences were really moss. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- He said he had entreated her to favour him by maintaining her privilege of fixing the time for the marriage at her own will and pleasure. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- How to remove the heated, vitiated air and to supply fresh air while maintaining the same uniform temperature is a problem of long standing. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Catastrophes are disastrous to radical and conservative alike: they do not preserve what was worth maintaining; they allow a deformed and often monstrous perversion of the original plan. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But it is not selfless--it is a maintaining of the self in mystic balance and integrity--like a star balanced with another star. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The other appointments of the mansion partook of the rude simplicity of the Saxon period, which Cedric piqued himself upon maintaining. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- It seemed to him that aqueous vapor always exists as a distinct fluid maintaining its identity among the other fluids of the atmosp here. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Whatever expense Great Britain has hitherto laid out in maintaining this dependency, has really been laid out in order to support this monopoly. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- In the one way, besides, this expense maintains productive, in the other unproductive hands. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I at once ordered a secret search within the city, for every Martian noble maintains a secret service of his own. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- But the whole produce of the land undoubtedly belongs to him, who can dispose of the labour and service of all those whom it maintains. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Land, however improved, will yield no revenue without a circulating capital, which maintains the labourers who cultivate and collect its produce. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The labour of menial servants does not continue the existence of the fund which maintains and employs them. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Besides this, the National Phonograph Company maintains a special staff for carrying on the business with foreign countries. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Still he maintains the true attitude of moral action. Plato. The Republic.
Checked by Alden