Etymology From Middle English supplien, borrowed from Old French soupleer, souploier, from Latin suppleo (“to fill up, make full, complete, supply”). The Middle English spelling was modified to conform to Latin etymology.
To provide (something), to make (something) available for use.
to supply money for the war
2
To furnish or equip with.
to supply a furnace with fuel; to supply soldiers with ammunition
3
To fill up, or keep full.
Rivers are supplied by smaller streams.
4
To compensate for, or make up a deficiency of.
It was objected against him that he had never experienced love. Whereupon he arose, left the society, and made it a point not to return to it until he considered that he had supplied the defect.1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
5
To serve instead of; to take the place of.
Burning ships the banished sun supply.1666, Edmund Waller, Instructions to a Painter:
The sun was set, and Vesper, to supply His absent beams, had lighted up the sky.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
6
To act as a substitute.
7
To fill temporarily; to serve as substitute for another in, as a vacant place or office; to occupy; to have possession of.
Etymology From Middle English supplien, borrowed from Old French soupleer, souploier, from Latin suppleo (“to fill up, make full, complete, supply”). The Middle English spelling was modified to conform to Latin etymology.
1
The act of supplying.
2
An amount of something supplied.
A supply of good drinking water is essential.
She said, "China has always had a freshwater supply problem with 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its freshwater".
3
Economics, Sciences The market force that causes sellers to be both willing and able to sell a good or service, as measured by the amount of that good or service that is currently available to be bought at any given price point; the amount itself.
Supply and demand ebb and flow in a complex interplay.
The supply of timber to the region's mills was lower than expected this month, owing to transport problems posed by wildfires.
4
In plural Provisions.
They are busy laying in supplies for the coming winter.
5
In plural An amount of money provided, as by Parliament or Congress, to meet the annual national expenditures.
to vote supplies
6
Somebody, such as a teacher or clergyman, who temporarily fills the place of another; a substitute.
His voice was playful and full; his back was bent supply.1906, Ford Madox Ford, The fifth queen: and how she came to court, page 68:
[…] the rain struck on her head as she bent supply to the movements of the pony, while it scrambled up the bank to the sheltering trees. For a couple of miles the path ran through woods alive with the varied voices of the rain, […]1938, David Leslie Murray, Commander of the mists:
2 more examples
She swayed slightly in the gusts, bent supply to them and seemed at one with the force which Straup found so hostile.1963, Johanna Moosdorf, Next door:
Grigory hesitantly took her in his arms to kiss her, but she held him off, bent supply backwards and shot a frightened glance at the windows. 'They'll see!' 'Let them!' 'I'd be ashamed—'1988, Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Шо́лохов (Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov), Quiet flows the Don (translated), volume 1, page 96