Verb

(en verb)

To maintain, or keep in existence.

To provide for or nourish.

provisions to sustain an army

To encourage (something ).

To experience or suffer (an injury, etc. ).

* Dryden

Shall Turnus, then, such endless toil sustain ?

* Shakespeare

You shall sustain more new disgraces.

To confirm, prove, or corroborate.

to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition

To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support.

A foundation sustains''' the superstructure; an animal '''sustains''' a load; a rope '''sustains a weight.

To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.

(Shakespeare)

* Dryden

his sons, who seek the tyrant to sustain

Verb

(reliev)

To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}

To ease (someone, a part of the body etc.) or give relief from physical pain or discomfort.

To alleviate (pain, distress, mental discomfort etc.).

To provide comfort or assistance to (someone in need, especially in poverty).

(obsolete) To lift up; to raise again.

(legal) To free (someone) from debt or legal obligations; to give legal relief to.

This shall not relieve either Party of any obligations.

To bring military help to (a besieged town); to lift the seige on.

To release (someone) from or of a difficulty, unwanted task, responsibility etc.

(military, job) To free (someone) from their post, task etc. by taking their place.

* 1819 , (Lord Byron), , III.76:

The henna should be deeply dyed to make / The skin relieved appear more fairly fair [...].

* 1927 , (Countee Cullen), From the Dark Tower :

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark / White stars is no less lovely being dark

(reflexive) To go to the toilet; to defecate or urinate.