had been sustaining
- past perfect progressive of sustain.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The magazine has almost always lost money, and for the previous five years a small team of wealthy friends of the magazine had been sustaining it.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 12, 2014
In reality, Rudolph was very much alive, and had been sustaining himself by stealthily mooching off local businesses and residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2014
Meanwhile I had been sustaining part of his weight.
From Who Goes There? by Benson, Blackwood Ketcham
Mrs. Tempest had been sustaining nature with cups of tea all through the agitating day.
From Vixen, Volume II. by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
On the word Mr. Wilding lost the delicate, precarious balance he had been sustaining on the edge of the ditch, and went over backwards, at the imminent risk—as he afterwards related—of breaking his neck.
From Mistress Wilding by Sabatini, Rafael
