The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
The act of sustaining, or the state of being sustained; preservation from falling; support; sustenance; maintenance.
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(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.
Usage examples of "sustentation fund".
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.