<B>supply</B> (1), verb, <B>-plied,</B> <B>-plying,</B> noun, pl. <B>-plies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to provide (what is wanted or needed); furnish. <BR> <I>Ex. to supply power to a factory. The school supplies books for the children. The records did not supply a description of him (Thomas B. Costain).</I> (SYN) afford. <DD><B> 2. </B>to furnish or provide (a person or persons) with what is wanted or needed. <BR> <I>Ex. He is supplying us with milk. Brazil supplies us with much of our coffee.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to furnish (a thing) with something needed. <BR> <I>Ex. to supply plants with water and sunlight.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to make up for (a loss, lack, or absence); compensate for. <BR> <I>Ex. to supply a deficiency.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to satisfy (a need or want). <BR> <I>Ex. There was just enough to supply the demand.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to fill (a place, vacancy, pulpit, or other position) as a substitute. <DD><B> 7. </B>to fill. <BR> <I>Ex. Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to fill another's place, pulpit, or other position temporarily; be a substitute. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a quantity ready for use; stock; store. <BR> <I>Ex. The school gets its supplies of books, papers, pencils, and chalk from the city. The United States has very large supplies of coal. The amount of the blood supply is therefore all-important to the heart (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of supplying a need, desire, want, loss, lack, or vacancy. <DD><B> 3. </B>a quantity or amount supplied or provided. <BR> <I>Ex. a new supply of paper.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Economics.) the quantity of any commodity in the market ready for purchase, especially at a given price. <BR> <I>Ex. a supply of coffee.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a sum of money appropriated by a national legislature to meet the expenses of government. <DD><B> 6. </B>a person who fills a place, vacancy, pulpit, or other position as a substitute for another. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Obsolete.) reinforcements. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Obsolete.) assistance; aid. <BR><I>expr. <B>supplies,</B> </I>the food and equipment necessary for an army, expedition, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. The invaders remained until their supplies were exhausted (Benjamin Jowett).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="supply">
<B>supply</B> (2), adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a supple manner. </DL>
<A NAME="supplyanddemand">
<B>supply and demand,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the interplay of the quantity of goods offered for sale at specified prices and the quantity of goods purchased at those prices in a free market. </DL>
<A NAME="supplypastor">
<B>supply pastor,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a preacher who fills a pulpit during the temporary absence of the pastor. </DL>
<A NAME="supplyreel">
<B>supply reel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the reel of a tape recorder or motion-picture camera or projector that holds the tape or film to be wound up by the take-up reel. </DL>
<A NAME="supplyside">
<B>supply-side, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with economic policy theoretically designed to stimulate production of goods and services in a nation's economy by such methods as reducing taxes to increase the amount of money business can invest in new equipment. <BR> <I>Ex. Supply-side analysis ... forecasts dynamic growth as the federal government lessens its tax bite (New York Post). Supply-side economists want to reduce the role of government rather than expand it (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="supplysider">
<B>supply-sider, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a supporter or advocate of supply-side economics. <BR> <I>Ex. Supply-siders base their assumptions on the basic notion that Government had gotten so big and taxes have grown so large that the economy no longer works efficiently (Karen W. Arenson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="support">
<B>support, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to keep from falling or sinking; bear the weight of; hold up; sustain. <BR> <I>Ex. Walls support the roof. Crutches supported the injured man.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to give strength, courage, or confidence to; keep up; help. <BR> <I>Ex. Hope supports us in time of trouble.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to supply with the necessities oflife; provide for. <BR> <I>Ex. Parents usually support their children.</I> (SYN) keep. <DD><B> 4. </B>to supply funds or means for. <BR> <I>Ex. to support the expenses of government.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to maintain, keep up, or keep going. <BR> <I>Ex. a town which is able to support two orchestras.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to be in favor of (a person, party, cause, or course of action); back; second. <BR> <I>Ex. to support a motion, to support the foreign-aid bill. The members of his cabinet supported the President's view.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>to help prove; bear out. <BR> <I>Ex. The facts support their claim. The primary assumption made in the theory was supported by evidence (A. W. Haslett).</I> (SYN) verify, confirm, substantiate. <DD><B> 8. </B>to put up with; bear; endure; tolerate. <BR> <I>Ex. She couldn't support life without friends.</I> (SYN) suffer. <DD><B> 9. </B>to provide a military unit with supplies, transportation, reserves, or protection. <BR> <I>Ex. Naval fire supported the marine landings.</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Theater.) <DD><B> a. </B>to act with (a leading actor); play a subordinate, though often important, part to; assist. <DD><B> b. </B>to act or play (a part) with success. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>the act of supporting. <BR> <I>Ex. Columns serve for support. He spoke in support of the proposal.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the condition of being supported. <BR> <I>Ex. A building must have support. This argument lacks support.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>help or assistance; aid. <BR> <I>Ex. He needs the support of a scholarship. Inability to enlist informed and enthusiastic public participation and support ... (New York Times).</I> (SYN) backing. <DD><B> 3. </B>maintenance; means of livelihood. <BR> <I>Ex. That family lacks support.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a person or thing that supports; prop; stay. <BR> <I>Ex. The neck is the support of the head. Wheat supports are due to fall faster than those on other crops (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Military.) <DD><B> a. </B>the assistance or protection given to one unit or element by another. <DD><B> b. </B>a unit or a part of a unit which provides supplies, transportation, reserves, or protection to another unit or to the rest of the unit. <BR> <I>Ex. Aviation may be used as a support for infantry.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>the part of any unit held in reserve during the initial phase of an attack. <DD><B> 6. </B>the material used as a foundation for a painting, such as a canvas, a wooden panel, or a sheet of paper. adv. <B>supportingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="supportability">
<B>supportability, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or condition of being supportable. </DL>
<A NAME="supportable">
<B>supportable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be supported; bearable or endurable. <BR> <I>Ex. Future wars must have limited objectives, attainable by limited means and making defeat a painful, but supportable blow to the loser (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> noun <B>supportableness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="supportably">
<B>supportably, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a supportable manner; so as to be supportable or endurable. </DL>
<A NAME="supporter">
<B>supporter, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who supports, especially one who sides with, backs up, or assists a person or cause; adherent; partisan. <DD><B> 2. </B>a thing that supports, especially something worn to hold up a garment, such as a garter, or some part of the body, such as a jockstrap. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Heraldry.) either of two figures, as of animals or human beings, standing one on each side of an escutcheon, and often depicted as holding it. </DL>
<A NAME="supporting">
<B>supporting, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>keeping from falling. <BR> <I>Ex. The veins and veinlets combine supporting and conductive tissues (Fred W. Emerson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>keeping from giving way; sustaining; giving assistance or relief. <BR> <I>Ex. a strong supporting cast, a topnotch director (Time).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>confirmatory; corroborative. </DL>
<A NAME="supportive">
<B>supportive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> providing support; supporting; sustaining. <BR> <I>Ex. supportive evidence, a supportive arch. Mr. Jones has always played a supportive role at board meetings (Harper's).</I> adv. <B>supportively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="supportivetherapy">
<B>supportive therapy</B> or <B>treatment,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a moderate form of psychotherapy to arrive at a practical solution to a patient's problems by direct and sympathetic discussion with him. <BR> <I>Ex. In supportive therapy ... the doctor merely makes an effort to understand sympathetically the problem, sorting out reactions, and advising the patient about his course of conduct (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>medical therapy to relieve the symptoms of a disease or disturbance without direct treatment, such as the use of blood transfusions in the treatment of shock. </DL>
<A NAME="supportless">
<B>supportless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having no support. </DL>
<A NAME="supportprice">
<B>support price,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) the price, set in relation to the parity ratio, at which the government is ready to purchase commodities as a part of price support. <BR> <I>Ex. High support prices have encouraged farmers to overproduce (Wall Street Journal). Lower support prices will have an offsetting effect on net income for wheat farmers (Mark V. Keeler).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="supportress">
<B>supportress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman supporter. </DL>
<A NAME="supposable">
<B>supposable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be supposed. </DL>
<A NAME="supposably">
<B>supposably, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a supposable degree or way; as may be supposed or presumed. </DL>
