Sustent

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Food or other means of keeping a person or creature alive ; to keep someone or something alive, supported, or going over time
2. The nourishment that keeps a living being alive ; to provide the food, support, or resources needed to maintain life
3. Nourishment or livelihood that maintains existence ; to uphold or prop up a person or thing so that it continues

Etymology: "Sustent" is an uncommon English word meaning something that sustains, or sustenance itself. It is borrowed from Old French "sustenant," the present participle of "sustenir," which descends from Latin "sustinere," meaning "to hold up" or "to support." That Latin verb is itself a compound of "sub-," meaning "up from under," and "tenere," "to hold," so the core image is of something held up from beneath. English took the word in the Middle Ages, when it was used of the physical support a person or structure needed to stay upright and alive. Over time its sense moved toward nourishment and maintenance, and the noun "sustenance" followed the same path into everyday use. "Sustent" survives mostly in older and more formal writing, where it keeps the sense of a supporting or upholding agent that the more common words have largely replaced.

Synonyms: sustain, support, maintain