uphold (uphold)

t. [ The mournful train with groans and hands upheld Besought his pity. Dryden. 2. To keep erect; keep from sinking or falling; hence, to support; sustain; maintain; keep up; keep from declining or being lost or ruined: as, to uphold a person, a decision, or a verdict. Of whom Judas Maccabeus did uphold their State from a further declination. Sandys , Travailes, p. 112. While life upholds this arm, This arm upholds the house of Lancaster. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 106. IMG:content-1596.png:[blocks in formation] Piers Plowman (C), xiii. 218. Vpholdere, that sellythe smal thyngys. Velaber, velabra. Prompt . Parv ., p. 512. 21. An undertaker; one who has charge of funerals. Th' upholder , rueful harbinger of death, Waits with impatience for the dying breath. 3t. An upholsterer. Gay , Trivia. IMG:content-1597.png:[blocks in formation] 4. One who upholds; a supporter; a defender; a sustainer: as, an upholder of religious freedom. An earnest and zealous upholder of his country. Holinshed, Chron. of Ireland, an. 1546.