[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

maintain \maintain\, v. t. imp.  p. p. maintained; p. pr. 
   vb. n. maintaining. oe. maintenen, f. maintenir,
   properly, to hold by the hand; main hand l. manus + f.
   tenir to hold l. tenere. see manual, and tenable.
   1. 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.
      1913 webster

   2. to keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to
      surrender or relinquish.
      1913 webster

            god values . . . every one as he maintains his post.
                                                  --grew.
      1913 webster

   3. to continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.
      1913 webster

            maintain talk with the duke.          --shak.
      1913 webster

   4. to bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply
      with what is needed.
      1913 webster

            glad, by his labor, to maintain his life.
                                                  --stirling.
      1913 webster

            what maintains one vice would bring up two children.
                                                  --franklin.
      1913 webster

   5. to affirm; to support or defend by argument.
      1913 webster

            it is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to
            be maintained by it.                  --south.
      1913 webster

   syn: to assert; vindicate; allege. see assert.
        1913 webster
see also:
maintained maintaining manual assert 

Maintaining >> M Words
Maintaining, definition of term: Maintaining
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