Noun
The process by which something is sustained or upheld.
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Beginnings are very different from sustainings; the irregular, often violent, and improvised actions of the founder hero must be succeeded by the regular election of leaders according to law.
Adjective
That sustains, supports or provides sustenance.
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[…] eternall life, the end of all our wearisome labours, and all our sustaining hopes.
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1771, Elizabeth Griffith, The History of Lady Barton, London: T. Davies & T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 31, p. 21, I turned quick to look for him, and saw him coming towards me, with another gentleman—But I saw no more, my senses forsook me; in spite of Maria’s sustaining arm, I fell motionless on the ground.
Sometimes, I had proceeded restlessly from place to place, stopping nowhere; sometimes, I had lingered long in one spot. I had had no purpose, no sustaining soul within me, anywhere.
They laughed and chattered, and passed each other sustaining bits of chocolate in torn silver paper.
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[…] I was thirsty & went to sit in the shade of the tea-terrace. The tea, served impractically in a glass, was refreshing, somehow muddy & more sustaining than tea I am used to.