Hypertext Webster Gateway: "supple"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Supple \Sup"ple\, a. [OE. souple, F. souple, from L. supplex
suppliant, perhaps originally, being the knees. Cf.
{Supplicate}.]
1. Pliant; flexible; easily bent; as, supple joints; supple
fingers.

2. Yielding compliant; not obstinate; submissive to guidance;
as, a supple horse.

If punishment . . . makes not the will supple, it
hardens the offender. --Locke.

3. Bending to the humor of others; flattering; fawning;
obsequious. --Addison.

Syn: Pliant; flexible; yielding; compliant; bending;
flattering; fawning; soft.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Supple \Sup"ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Suppled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Suppling}.]
1. To make soft and pliant; to render flexible; as, to supple
leather.

The flesh therewith she suppled and did steep.
--Spenser.

2. To make compliant, submissive, or obedient.

A mother persisting till she had bent her daughter's
mind and suppled her will. --Locke.

They should supple our stiff willfulness. --Barrow.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Supple \Sup"ple\, v. i.
To become soft and pliant.

The stones . . . Suppled into softness as they fell.
--Dryden.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

supple
adj 1: gracefully slender; moving and bending with ease [syn: {lissome},
{lissom}, {lithe}, {lithesome}, {slender}, {svelte},
{sylphlike}]
2: (used of e.g. personality traits) readily adaptable; "a
supple mind"; "a limber imagination" [syn: {limber}]
3: (used of persons' bodies) capable of moving or bending
freely [syn: {limber}]


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