Maintain
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /meɪnˈteɪn/
- Rhymes: -eɪn
Origin
From Anglo-Norman and Old French maintenir, from Late Latin manūteneŠ("I support"), from Latin manū ("with the hand") + teneŠ("I hold").
Full definition of maintain
Verb
- (obsolete, transitive) To support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action. 14th-19th c.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XV:he wente oute of hys ermytaige for to maynteyne his nevew ayenste the myghty erle.
- To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.). from 14th c.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 17, This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
- 2011, November 5, Phil Dawkes, QPR 2-3 Man City, Mancini's men were far from their best but dug in to earn a 10th win in 11 league games and an eighth successive victory in all competitions to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the table.
- 2013-03, Nancy Langston, Mining the Boreal North, Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.
- To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert. from 15th c.
- 2012, April 19, Josh Halliday, Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?, She maintains that the internet should face similar curbs to TV because young people are increasingly living online. "It's totally different, someone at Google watching the video from the comfort of their office in San Francisco to someone from a council house in London, where this video is happening right outside their front door."