Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Supernumeraries"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Supernumerary \Su`per*nu"mer*a*ry\, n.; pl. {Supernumeraries}.
1. A person or thing beyond the number stated.
2. A person or thing beyond what is necessary or usual;
especially, a person employed not for regular service, but
only to fill the place of another in case of need;
specifically, in theaters, a person who is not a regular
actor, but is employed to appear in a stage spectacle.
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