sustaining

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of sustain

   1 more example

   Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one, while in the case of monk and crusader there must have been a sustaining purpose, and possibly a great abnegation, a leaving of lands and possessions.”

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

plural sustainings

1. The process by which something is sustained or upheld.

   Beginnings are very different from sustainings; the irregular, often violent, and improvised actions of the founder hero must be succeeded by the regular election of leaders according to law.

   2012, Alan Ryan, On Politics

comparative more sustaining · superlative most sustaining

1. That sustains, supports or provides sustenance.

   […] eternall life, the end of all our wearisome labours, and all our sustaining hopes.

   1641, John Milton, Of Prelatical Episcopacy, London: Thomas Underhill, page 24

   4 more examples

   1771, Elizabeth Griffith, The History of Lady Barton, London: T. Davies & T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 31, p. 21, I turned quick to look for him, and saw him coming towards me, with another gentleman—But I saw no more, my senses forsook me; in spite of Maria’s sustaining arm, I fell motionless on the ground.

   Sometimes, I had proceeded restlessly from place to place, stopping nowhere; sometimes, I had lingered long in one spot. I had had no purpose, no sustaining soul within me, anywhere.

   1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 58, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC

   They laughed and chattered, and passed each other sustaining bits of chocolate in torn silver paper.

   1929, Josephine Tey, chapter 1, in The Man in the Queue, New York: Pocket Book, published 1977, page 5

   […] I was thirsty & went to sit in the shade of the tea-terrace. The tea, served impractically in a glass, was refreshing, somehow muddy & more sustaining than tea I am used to.

   1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 8, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN