Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
SUPERVACANEOUS — SUR
SUPERVACANEOUS, a. [L. supervacaneus; super and vaco, to make void.] Superfluous; unnecessary; needless; serving no purpose.
SUPERVACANEOUSLY, adv. Needlessly.
SUPERVACANEOUSNESS, n. Needlessness.
SUPERVENE, v.i. [L. supervenio; super and venio.]
1. To come upon as something extraneous.
Such a mutual gravitation can never supervene to matter, unless impressed by divine power.
2. To come upon; to happen to.
SUPERVENIENT, a. Coming upon as something additional or extraneous.
That branch of belief was in him supervenient to christian practice.
Divorces can be granted, a mensa et toro, only for supervenient causes.
SUPERVENTION, n. The act of supervening.
SUPERVISAL, supervi’zal
SUPERVISION, n. supervizh’on. [from supervise.] The act of overseeing; inspection; superintendence.
SUPERVISE, n. supervi’ze. Inspection. [Not used.]
SUPERVISE, v.t. [L. super and visus, video, to see.] To oversee; to superintend; to inspect; as, to supervise the press for correction.
SUPERVISED, pp. Inspected.
SUPERVISING, ppr. Overseeing; inspecting; superintending.
SUPERVISOR, n. An overseer; an inspector; a superintendent; as the supervisor of a pamphlet.
SUPERVIVE, v.t. [L. super and vivo, to live.] To live beyond; to outlive. The soul will supervive all the revolutions of nature. [Little used.] [See Survive.]
SUPINATION, n. [L. supino.] The act of lying or state of being laid with the face upward.
1. The act of turning the palm of the hand upwards.
SUPINATOR, n. In anatomy, a muscle that turns the palm of the hand upward.
SUPINE, a. [L. supinus.] Lying on the back, or with the face upward; opposed to prone.
1. Leaning backward; or inclining with exposure to the sun.
If the vine
On rising ground be plac’d on hills supine--
2. Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive.
He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation.
These men suffer by their supine credulity.
SUPINE, n. [L. supinum.] In grammar, a word formed from a verb, or a modification of a verb.
SUPINELY, adv. With the face upward.
1. Carelessly; indolently; drowsily; in a heedless, thoughtless state.
Who on beds of sin supinely lie.
SUPINENESS, n. A lying with the face upward.
1. Indolence; drowsiness; heedlessness. Many of the evils of life are owing to our own supineness.
SUPINITY, for supineness, is not used.
SUPPAGE, n. [from sup.] What may be supped; pottage. [Not in use.]
SUPPALPATION, n. [L. suppalpor; sub and palpor, to stroke.] The act of enticing by soft words. [Not used.]
SUPPARASITATION, n. [L. supparasitor; sub and parasite.] The act of flattering merely to gain favor. [Not in use.]
SUPPEDANEOUS, a. [L. sub and pes, the foot.] Being under the feet.
SUPPEDITATE, v.t. [L. suppedito.] To supply. [Not used.]
SUPPEDITATION, n. [L. suppeditatio.] Supply; aid afforded. [Little used.]
SUPPER, n. The evening meal. People who dine late, eat no supper. The dinner of fashionable people would be the supper of rustics.
SUPPERLESS, a. Wanting supper; being without supper; as, to go supperless to bed.
SUPPLANT, v.t. [L. supplanto; sub and planta, the bottom of the foot.] To trip up the heels.
Supplanted down he fell.
1. To remove or displace by stratagem; or to displace and take the place of; as, a rival supplants another in the affections of his mistress, or in the favor of his prince.
Suspecting that the courtier had supplanted the friend.
2. To overthrow; to undermine.
SUPPLANTATION, n. The act of supplanting.
SUPPLANTED, pp. Tripped up; displaced.
SUPPLANTER, n. One that supplants.
SUPPLANTING, ppr. Tripping up the heels; displacing by artifice.
SUPPLE, a.
1. Pliant; flexible; easily bent; as supple joints; supple fingers.
2. Yielding; compliant; not obstinate.
If punishment--makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.
3. Bending to the humor of others; flattering; fawning.
4. That makes plaint; as supple government.
SUPPLE, v.t. To make soft and pliant; to render flexible; as, to supple leather.
1. To make compliant.
A mother persisting till she had suppled the will of her daughter.
SUPPLE, v.i. To become soft and pliant; as stones suppled into softness.
SUPPLED, pp. Made soft and plaint; made compliant.
SUPPLEMENT, n. [L. supplementum, suppleo; sub and pleo, to fill.]
1. Literally, a supply; hence, an addition to any thing by which its defects are supplied, and it is made more full and complete. The word is particularly used of an addition to a book or paper.
2. Store; supply. [Not in use.]
3. In trigonometry, the quantity by which an arc or an angle falls short of 180 degrees or a semicircle.
SUPPLEMENTAL, SUPPLEMENTARY, a. Additional; added to supply what is wanted; as a supplemental law or bill.
SUPPLENESS, n. [from supple.] Pliancy; pliableness; flexibility; the quality of being easily bent; as the suppleness of the joints.
1. Readiness of compliance; the quality of easily yielding; facility; as the suppleness of the will.
SUPPLETORY, a. [from L. suppleo, to supply.] Supplying deficiencies; as a suppletory oath.
SUPPLETORY, n. That which is to supply what is wanted.
SUPPLIAL, n. The act of supplying. [Not used.]
SUPPLIANCE, n. Continuance. [Not in use.]
SUPPLIANT, a. [L. supplico, to supplicate; sub and plico, to fold. See Comply and Apply.]
1. Entreating; beseeching; supplicating; asking earnestly and submissively.
The rich grow suppliant, and the poor grow proud.
2. Manifesting entreaty; expressive of humble supplication.
To bow and sue for grace with suppliant knee.
SUPPLIANT, n. A humble petitioner; one who entreats submissively.
Spare this life, and hear thy suppliant’s pray’r.
SUPPLIANTLY, adv. In a suppliant or submissive manner.
SUPPLICANT, a. [L. supplicans.] Entreating; asking submissively.
SUPPLICANT, n. One that entreats; a petitioner who asks earnestly and submissively.
The wise supplicant--left the event to God.
SUPPLICATE, v.t. [L. supplico; sub and plico. See Suppliant.]
1. To entreat for; to seek by earnest prayer; as, to supplicate blessings on christian efforts to spread the gospel.
2. To address in prayer; as, to supplicate the throne of grace.
SUPPLICATE, v.i. To entreat; to beseech; to implore; to petition with earnestness and submission.
A man cannot brook to supplicate or beg.
SUPPLICATION, n. [L. supplicatio.]
1. Entreaty; humble and earnest prayer in worship. In all our supplications to the Father of mercies, let us remember a world lying in ignorance and wickedness.
2. Petition; earnest request.
3. In Roman antiquity, a religious solemnity observed in consequence of some military success. It consisted in sacrifices, feasting, offering thanks, and praying for a continuance of success.
SUPPLICATORY, a. Containing supplication; humble; submissive.
SUPPLIED, pp. [from supply.] Fully furnished; having a sufficiency.
SUPPLIER, n. He that supplies.
SUPPLY, v.t. [L. suppleo; sub and pleo, disused, to fill.]
1. To fill up, as any deficiency happens; to furnish what is wanted; to afford or furnish a sufficiency; as, to supply the poor with bread and clothing; to supply the daily wants of nature; to supply the navy with masts and spars; to supply the treasury with money. The city is well supplied with water.
I wanted nothing fortune could supply.
2. To serve instead of.
Burning ships the banish’d sun supply.
3. To give; to bring or furnish.
Nearer care supplies
Signs to my breast, and sorrow to my eyes.
4. To fill vacant room.
The sun was set, and Vesper to supply
His absent beams, had lighted up the sky.
5. To fill; as, to supply a vacancy.
6. In general, to furnish; to give or afford what is wanted.
Modern infidelity supplies no such motives.
SUPPLY, n. Sufficiency for wants given or furnished. The poor have a daily supply of food; the army has ample supplies of provisions and munitions of war. Customs, taxes and excise constitute the supplies of revenue.
SUPPLYING, ppr. Yielding or furnishing what is wanted; affording a sufficiency.
SUPPLYMENT, n. A furnishing. [Not in use.]
SUPPORT, v.t. [L. supporto; sub and porto, to carry.]
1. To bear; to sustain; to uphold; as, a prop or pillar supports a structure; an abutment supports an arch; the stem of a tree supports the branches. Every edifice must have a foundation to support it; a rope or cord supports a weight.
2. To endure without being overcome; as, to support pain, distress or misfortunes.
This fierce demeanor and his insolence,
The patience of a God could not support.
3. To bear; to endure; as, to support fatigues or hardships; to support violent exertions. The eye will not support the light of the sun’s disk.
4. To sustain; to keep from fainting or sinking; as, to support the courage or spirits.
5. To sustain; to act or represent well; as, to support the character or king Lear; to support the part assigned.
6. To bear; to supply funds for or the means of continuing; as, to support the annual expenses of government.
7. To sustain; to carry on; as, to support a war or a contest; to support an argument or debate.
8. To maintain with provisions and the necessary means of living; as, to support a family; to support a son in college; to support the ministers of the gospel.
9. To maintain; to sustain; to keep from failing; as, to support life; to support the strength by nourishment.
10. To sustain without change or dissolution; as, clay supports an intense heat.
11. To bear; to keep from sinking; as, water supports ships and other bodies; air supports a balloon.
12. To bear without being exhausted; to be able to pay; as, to support taxes or contributions.
13. To sustain; to maintain; as, to support a good character.
14. To maintain; to verify; to make good; to substantiate. The testimony is not sufficient to support the charges; the evidence will not support the statements or allegations; the impeachment is well supported by evidence.
15. To uphold by aid or countenance; as, to support a friend or a party.
16. To vindicate; to maintain; to defend successfully; as, to be able to support one’s own cause.
SUPPORT, n. The act or operation of upholding or sustaining.
1. That which upholds, sustains or keeps from falling, as a prop, a pillar, a foundation of any kind.
2. That which maintains life; as, food is the support of life, of the body, of strength. Oxygen or vital air has been supposed to be the support of respiration and of heat in the blood.
3. Maintenance; subsistence; as an income sufficient for the support of a family; or revenue for the support of the army and navy.
4. Maintenance; an upholding; continuance in any state, or preservation from falling, sinking or failing; as taxes necessary for the support of public credit; a revenue for the support of government.
5. In general, the maintenance or sustaining of any thing without suffering it to fail, decline or languish; as the support of health, spirits, strength or courage; the support of reputation, credit, etc.
6. That which upholds or relieves; aid; help; succor; assistance.
SUPPORTABLE, a. That may be upheld or sustained.
1. That may be borne or endured; as, the pain is supportable, or not supportable. Patience renders evils supportable.
2. Tolerable; that may be borne without resistance or punishment; as, such insults are not supportable.
3. That can be maintained; as, the cause or opinion is supportable.
SUPPORTABLENESS, n. The state of being tolerable.
SUPPORTANCE, n. Maintenance; support. [Not in use.]
SUPPORTATION, n. Maintenance; support. [Not in use.]
SUPPORTED, pp. Borne; endured; upheld; maintained; subsisted; sustained; carried on.
SUPPORTER, n. One that supports or maintains.
1. That which supports or upholds; a prop, a pillar, etc.
The sockets and supporters of flowers are figured.
2. A sustainer; a comforter.
The saints have a companion and supporter in all their miseries.
3. A maintainer; a defender.
Worthy supporters of such a reigning impiety.
4. One who maintains or helps to carry on; as the supporters of a war.
5. An advocate; a defender; a vindicator; as the supporters of religion, morality, justice, etc.
6. An adherent; one who takes part; as the supporter of a party or faction.
7. In ship-building, a knee placed under the cat-head.
8. Supporters, in heraldry, are figures of beasts that appear to support the arms.
SUPPORTFUL, a. Abounding with support. [Not used.]
SUPPORTING, ppr. Bearing; enduring; upholding; sustaining; maintaining; subsisting; vindicating.
SUPPORTLESS, a. Having no support.
SUPPORTMENT, n. Support. [Not in use.]
SUPPOSABLE, a. [from suppose.] That may be supposed; that may be imagined to exist. That is not a supposable case.
SUPPOSAL, n. [from suppose.] Position without proof; the imagining of something to exist; supposition.
Interest, with Jew, never proceeds but upon supposal at least, of a firm and sufficient bottom.
SUPPOSE, v.t. suppo’ze. [L. suppositus, suppono.]
1. To lay down or state as a proposition or fact that may exist or be true, though not known or believed to be true or to exist; or to imagine or admit to exist, for the sake of argument or illustration. Let us suppose the earth to be the center of the system, what would be the consequence?
When we have as great assurance that a thing is, as we could possibly, supposing it were, we ought not to doubt of its existence.
2. To imagine; to believe; to receive as true.
Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all young men, the king’s sons; for Ammon only is dead. 2 Samuel 13:32.
3. To imagine; to think.
I suppose,
If our proposals once again were heard--
4. To require to exist or be true. The existence of things supposes the existence of a cause of the things.
One falsehood supposes another, and renders all you say suspected.
5. To put one thing by fraud in the place of another. [Not in use.]
SUPPOSE, n. Supposition; position without proof.
--Fit to be trusted on a bare suppose
That he is honest. [Not in use.]
SUPPOSED, pp. Laid down or imagined as true; imagined; believed; received as true.
SUPPOSER, n. One who supposes.
SUPPOSING, ppr. Laying down or imagining to exist or be true; stating as a case that may be; imagining; receiving as true.
SUPPOSITION, n. The act of laying down, imagining or admitting as true or existing, what is known not to be true, or what is not proved.
1. The position of something known not to be true or not proved; hypothesis.
This is only an infallibility upon supposition that if a thing be true, it is impossible to be false.
2. Imagination; belief without full evidence.
SUPPOSITITIOUS, a. [L. supposititius, from suppositus, suppono.]
Put by trick in the place or character belonging to another; not genuine; as a supposititious child; a supposititious writing.
SUPPOSITITIOUSNESS, n. The state of being supposititious.
SUPPOSITIVE, a. Supposed; including or implying supposition.
SUPPOSITIVE, n. [supra.] A word denoting or implying supposition.
SUPPOSITIVELY, adv. With, by or upon supposition.
SUPPOSITORY, n. In medicine, a long cylindrical body introduced into the rectum to procure stools when clysters cannot be administered.
SUPPRESS, v.t. [L. suppressus, supprimo; sub and premo, to press.]
1. To overpower and crush; to subdue; to destroy; as, to suppress a rebellion; to suppress a mutiny or riot; to suppress opposition.
Every rebellion when it is suppressed, makes the subject weaker, and the government stronger.
2. To keep in; to restrain from utterance or vent; as, to suppress the voice; to suppress sighs.
3. To retain without disclosure; to conceal; not to tell or reveal; as, to suppress evidence.
She suppresses the name, and this keeps him in a pleasing suspense.
4. To retain without communication or making public; as, to suppress a letter; to suppress a manuscript.
5. To stifle; to stop; to hinder from circulation; as, to suppress a report.
6. To stop; to restrain; to obstruct from discharges; as, to suppress a diarrhea, a hemorrhage and the like.
SUPPRESSED, pp. Crushed; destroyed; retained; concealed; stopped; obstructed.
SUPPRESSING, ppr. Subduing; destroying; retaining closely; concealing; hindering from disclosure or publication; obstructing.
SUPPRESSION, n. [L. suppressio.]
1. The act of suppressing, crushing or destroying; as the suppression of a riot, insurrection or tumult.
2. The act of retaining from utterance, vent or disclosure; concealment; as the suppression of truth, of reports, of evidence and the like.
3. The retaining of any thing from public notice; as the suppression of a letter or any writing.
4. The stoppage, obstruction or morbid retention of discharges; as the suppression of urine, of diarrhea or other discharge.
5. In grammar or composition, omission; as the suppression of a word.
SUPPRESSIVE, a. Tending to suppress; subduing; concealing.
SUPPRESSOR, n. One that suppresses; one that subdues; one that prevents utterance, disclosure or communication.
SUPPURATE, v.i. [L. suppuro; sub and pus, puris.] To generate pus; as, a boil or abscess suppurates.
SUPPURATE, v.t. To cause to suppurate. [In this sense, unusual.]
SUPPURATING, ppr. Generating pus.
SUPPURATION, n. [L. suppuratio.]
1. The process of generating purulent matter, or of forming pus, as in a wound or abscess; one of the natural terminations of healthy inflammation.
2. The matter generated by suppuration.
SUPPURATIVE, a. Tending to suppurate; promoting suppuration.
SUPPURATIVE, n. A medicine that promotes suppuration.
SUPPUTATION, n. [L. supputatio, supputo; sub and puto, to think.]
Reckoning; account; computation.
SUPPUTE, v.t. [L. supputo, supra.] To reckon; to compute. [Not in use.]
SUPRA, a Latin preposition, signifying above, over or beyond.
SUPRA-AXILLARY, a. [supra and axil.] In botany, growing above the axil; inserted above the axil; as a peduncle. [See Suprafoliaceous.]
SUPRACILIARY, a. [L. supra and cilium, eyebrow.] Situated above the eyebrow.
SUPRA-DECOMPOUND, a. [supra and decompound.] More than decompound; thrice compound. A supra-decompound leaf, is when a petiole divided several times, connects many leaflets; each part forming a decompound leaf.
SUPRAFOLIACEOUS, a. [L. supra and folium, a leaf.] In botany, inserted into the stem above the leaf or petiole, or axil, as a peduncle or flower.
SUPRALAPSARIAN, SUPRALAPSARY, a. [L. supra and lapsus, fall.]
Antecedent to the apostasy of Adam.
SUPRALAPSARIAN, n. One who maintains that God, antecedent to the fall of man or any knowledge of it, decreed the apostasy and all its consequences, determining to save some and condemn others, and that in all he does he considers his own glory only.
SUPRAMUNDANE, a. [L. supra and mundus, the world.]
Being or situated above the world or above our system.
SUPRA-ORBITAL, a. [supra and orbit.] Being above the orbit of the eye.
SUPRARENAL, a. [L. supra and ren, renes, the kidneys.]
Situated above the kidneys.
SUPRASCAPULARY, a. [L. supra and scapula.] Being above the scapula.
SUPRAVULGAR, a. [supra and vulgar.] Being above the vulgar or common people.
SUPREMACY, n. [See Supreme.] State of being supreme or in the highest station of power; highest authority or power; as the supremacy of the king of Great Britain; or the supremacy of parliament.
The usurped power of the pope being destroyed, the crown was restored to its supremacy over spiritual men and causes.
Oath of supremacy, in Great Britain, an oath which acknowledges the supremacy of the king in spiritual affairs, and renounces or abjures the pretended supremacy of the pope.
SUPREME, a. [L. supremus, from supra.]
1. Highest in authority; holding the highest place in government or power. In the United States, the congress is supreme in regulating commerce and in making war and peace. The parliament of Great Britain is supreme in legislation; but the king is supreme in the administration of the government. In the universe, God only is the supreme ruler and judge. His commands are supreme, and binding on all his creatures.
2. Highest, greatest or most excellent; as supreme love; supreme glory; supreme degree.
3. It is sometimes used in a bad sense; as supreme folly or baseness, folly or baseness carried to the utmost extent. [A bad use of the word.]
SUPREMELY, adv. With the highest authority. He rules supremely.
1. In the highest degree; to the utmost extent; as supremely blest.