Etymology From Middle English surplus, from Middle French surplus. Compare French surplus.
1
Being or constituting a surplus; more than sufficient.
surplus population
surplus words
3 more examples
The latest shipment of goods is surplus to our needs.
But to return to where we left her, I see her still, propped up in a kind of stupor against one of the walls in which this wretched edifice abounds, her long grey greasy hair framing in its cowl of scrofulous mats a face where pallor, languor, hunger, acne, recent dirt, immemorial chagrin and surplus hair seemed to dispute the mastery.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
surplus
verb
Etymology From Middle English surplus, from Middle French surplus. Compare French surplus.
1
To treat as surplus to requirements; to sell off or dismiss from employment, etc.
This employee was engaged to direct asphalt plants and inasmuch as the work for which he had been employed was completed, he was surplused and his return travel was approved […]1952, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations, Moroccan air base construction. 2 v, page 618: