1. To carry on, to stick to one's objectives: James thought it was very important to maintain a good relationship with his mother while he was away at college and so he wrote e-mails and talked to her on the phone regularly.
2: To preserve or retain an existing condition: Although her boss criticized her severely for being late for work, Mrs. Jackson maintained her composure and started to work right away.
3: To keep in a state of good restoration or condition: The Roberts couple had two cars which they maintained for years, both of which were more than 10 years old and in perfect shape and driving very well!
4: To keep up, to adhere to: Sherry was an excellent teacher who had to maintain a level of proficiency in order to keep her status of being the principal of the school.
5. Etymology: from Latin manutenere "to hold in the hand"; from manu, ablative of manus, "hand" + tenere, "to hold".