Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective In a manner that is sustained as long as or beyond a note's full value. Used chiefly as a direction.
  • noun A sostenuto passage or movement.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, sustained; prolonged: sometimes merely the same as tenuto, and sometimes implying in addition a slight reduction of speed. Abbreviated sost.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Mus.) Sustained; -- applied to a movement or passage the sounds of which are to sustained to the utmost of the nominal value of the time; also, to a passage the tones of which are to be somewhat prolonged or protacted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb music played in a sustained manner beyond the notes normal value
  • noun A note or passage marked to be sustained

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, past participle of sostenere, to sustain, from Latin sustinēre; see sustain.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian

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