MAINTA'IN, v.t. [L. manus and teneo.] 1. To hold, preserve or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present character or reputation.2. To hold; to keep; not to lose or surrender; as, to maintain a place or post.3. To continue; not to suffer to cease; as, to maintain a conversation.4. To keep up; to uphold; to support the expense of; as, to maintain state or equipage. What maintains one vice would bring up two children.5. To support with food, clothing and other conveniences; as, to maintain a family by trade or labor.6. To support by intellectual powers, or by force of reason; as, to maintain an argument.7. To support; to defend; to vindicate; to justify; to prove to be just; as, to maintain one's right or cause.8. To support by assertion or argument; to affirm. In tragedy and satire, I maintain that this age and the last have excelled the ancients.
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