Find the word definition

Crossword clues for sustentation

sustentation
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sustentation

Sustentation \Sus`ten*ta"tion\, n. [L. sustentatio sustenance, maintenance, fr. sustentare to support, maintain, v. intens. fr. sustinere to sustain: cf. F. sustentation. See Sustain.]

  1. The act of sustaining, or the state of being sustained; preservation from falling; support; sustenance; maintenance.

  2. (Physiol.) The aggregate of the functions by which a living organism is maintained in a normal condition of weight and growth.

    Sustentation fund (Eccl.), a fund of a religious body for support of its ministers, chapels, etc.; as, the sustentation fund of the Free Church of Scotland.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
sustentation

late 14c., from Anglo-French, Old French sustentacion, sostentacion "sustaining of life," from Latin sustentationem (nominative sustentatio) "maintenance," noun of action from past participle stem of sustentare "hold upright, hold up; feed, nourish, support; hold out, endure, suffer," frequentative of sustinere (see sustain).

Wiktionary
sustentation

n. 1 The act, or the result of sustaining; sustainment. 2 The aggregate of the functions by which a living organism is maintained in a normal condition of weight and growth.

WordNet
sustentation

n. the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence; "they were in want of sustenance"; "fishing was their main sustainment" [syn: sustenance, sustainment, maintenance, upkeep]

Usage examples of "sustentation".

In many instances, the sum originally devised for the sustentation of a grave or monument is not sufficient, in the present day, to remunerate residents in London for looking after it, and the money has been transferred to the parish in which the testator lies, and has become the perquisite of the sexton.

She wishes you to give her a legal promise of marriage, and sustentation.

Secondly, the highly reprehensible course pursued by the Free Church of Scotland, in soliciting, receiving, and retaining money in its sustentation fund for supporting the gospel in Scotland, which was evidently the ill-gotten gain of slaveholders and slave-traders.

However, afterwards there scarce passed a day wherein she had not liberty to take something or other for her Sustentation, And I must add this further, that this business of her Fast was carried so, that it was impossible to be dissembled without a Combination of Multitudes of People unacquainted with one another to support the Juggle, but he that can imagine such a thing of a Neighbourhood so fill'd with Vertuous People is a base man, I cannot call him any other.