The adjective is borrowed fromLatinsupīnus, from*sup- (seesub(“under”)) +-īnus(“of, pertaining to”). The word is cognate withCatalansupí,Italiansupino,Old Frenchsovin,Middle Frenchsouvin,Anglo-Normansupin,Old Occitansobin,sopin,Portuguesesupino,Spanishsupino.^[1] Partly displacedOld Englishupweard(“upward, supine”), whence Modern Englishupward.

The noun is from LateMiddle Englishsupin(“supine of a Latin verb”) orMiddle Frenchsupin(“(grammar) supine”), fromLatinsupīnum,^[2] (ellipsis ofsupīnumverbum(“supine verb”)), fromsupīnus; further etymology above.

• (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/ˈs(j)uːpaɪn/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American)IPA^(key):/ˌsuˈpaɪn/,/ˈsuˌpaɪn/
• Rhymes:-uːpaɪn,(General American)-aɪn
• Hyphenation:sup‧ine

supine (comparativemoresupine,superlativemostsupine)

1. Lying on itsback.

   Synonym:reclined

   Antonyms:prone,prostrate

   • 1973 January 26, Paul C. Walter, Jon E. Villaume, Thomas J. Taylor,Phosphates: A Monograph (GRAS Monograph Series;nos. 86–88),[Philadelphia, Pa.?]:Franklin Institute Research Laboratories,→OCLC, page16:

     Data, in part previously reported by this laboratory (2, 9), on the effects of mannitol loads insupine subjects, and of saline infusions in bothsupine and standing subjects, have also been used in the construction of Table III and Figures 1 and 2.

   • 2009, Robert C. Shamberger, “Chest Wall Deformities”, in Thomas W. Shields, Joseph LoCicero III, Carolyn E. Reed, Richard H. Feins, editors,General Thoracic Surgery, 7th edition, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,Wolters Kluwer,→ISBN, part A (The Lung, Pleura, Diaphragm, and Chest Wall), section IX (The Chest Wall),page603, column 1:

     Posterior displacement of the sternum can produce a deformity of the heart, particularly anterior indentation of the right ventricle. [...] The physical work capacity in pectus excavatum at a given heart rate was significantly lower in the sitting than thesupine position.

2. (of the hand, forearm or foot) Turned facing toward the body or upward: with the thumb outward (palm up), or with the big toe raised relative to the little toe.

    

   when one is washing one’s face, the hand is in the supine position; and then the forearm is also in the supine position; when the foot is resting on the outer side of the sole, it is in the supine position

3. (figuratively)Reluctant to takeaction due toindifference ormoralweakness;apathetic orpassive towards something.

   Synonyms:passive,peaceful,lazy,lethargic,listless;see alsoThesaurus:apathetic

   • 1695,John Woodward, “Part II. Concerning the Universal Deluge. That These Marine Bodies were then Left at Land. The Effects It Had upon the Earth.”, inAn Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: […], London: Printed for Ric[hard] Wilkin […],→OCLC,pages85–86:

     [W]hen Man wasfallen, and had abandoned his primitive Innocence, [...] he became puſillanimous, and was eaſily ruffled with every little Paſſion within:ſupine, and as openly expoſed to any Temptation or Aſſault from without.

   • 1748, [David Hume], “Essay V. Sceptical Solution of These Doubts.”, inPhilosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London:[…]A[ndrew] Millar, […],→OCLC, part I,page70:

     The Academics talk always of Doubts and ſuſpense of Judgment, of Danger in haſty Determinations, of confining to the very narrow Bounds the Enquiries of the Understanding, and of renouncing all Speculations that lie not within the Limits of common Life and Practice. Nothing, therefore, can be more contrary than ſuch a Philoſophy to theſupine Indolence of the Mind, its raſh Arrogance, its lofty Pretenſions, and its ſuperſtitious Credulity.

   • 1788, Publius [pseudonym;Alexander Hamilton], “Number XXIX. Concerning the Militia.”, inThe Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution,[…], volume I, New York, N.Y.:[…] J. and A. M‘Lean, […],→OCLC,page184:

     In times of inſurrection or invaſion it would be natural and proper that the militia of a neighbouring ſtate ſhould be marched into another to reſiſt a common enemy or to guard the republic againſt the violences of faction or ſedition. [...] If the power of affording it be placed under the direction of the Union, there will be no danger of aſupine and liſtleſs inattention to the dangers of a neighbour, till its near approach had ſuperadded the incitements of ſelf preſervation to the too feeble impulſes of duty and ſympathy.

   • 2009 July, Mark Elliott, “Torture, Deportation and Extra-judicial Detention: Instruments of the ‘War on Terror’”, inCambridge Law Journal, volume68, number 2,→DOI, pages245 at 245–246:

     InA v. UK, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that Part 4 of the 2001 Act [the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001] was not a strictly necessary response to the acknowledged emergency evidenced by the attacks in the USA and that the detention of the applicants was in breach of Article 5 [of the European Convention on Human Rights]. This conclusion is noteworthy given that the European Court has in the past adopted a deferential if notsupine approach when assessing the legality of derogations under Article 15.

   • 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, inThe Guardian‎^[1], London, archived fromthe original on2 January 2018:

     A single slice of this could leave yousupine in front of the Queen's speech without even the wherewithal to reach for the remote control.

   • 2024 May 18, Tabby Kinder, Stephen Morris, “Tesla chair on Musk: ‘I might wake up to a tweet. I don't wake up to a strategy shift’”, inFT Weekend, page15:

     While they ultimately came to the same conclusion, the pre-emptive tweet made it harder to rebut the court's judgment that they were “supine servants of an overweening master”.

4. (rare, nowpoetic)Inclining orleaningbackward;inclined,sloping.

   Synonyms:inclined,sloping

   • 1697,Virgil, “The First Book of theGeorgics”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London:[…]Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC,page82, lines372–375:

     But if the Vine / On riſing Ground be plac'd, or Hillsſupine, / Extend thy looſe Battalions largely wide, / Opening thy Ranks and Files on either Side: [...]

• nonsupine
• prone

• resupine

supine (pluralsupines)

1. (grammar, alsoattributively) InLatin and otherlanguages: a type ofverbal noun used in theablative andaccusative cases, whichshares the samestem as thepassive participle.
   • 1653,Charles Hoole, “Of the Supines of Simple Verbs”, inThe Latine Grammar Fitted for the Use of Schools. […], 2nd corrected edition, London: Printed by William Du-Gard; and are to bee sold by John Saywell […],→OCLC,page142:

     And here also you may observ, that the syllable which is doubled in the Preterperfect tens is not doubled in theSupines, astotondi to clip, make'stonsum:cecídi to beat,cæsum:[…]

   • 1718, Richard Johnson, “Of Supines”, inGrammatical Commentaries: Being an Apparatus to a New National Grammar: […], London: Printed for the author, and sold by Thomas Bickerton, […],→OCLC,page354:

     There be alſo appertaining unto Verbs, twoSupines, the one ending inum, which is called the firſtSupine, becauſe it hath the ſignification of the Verb Active: as,Eo amatum, I go to love: and the other inu, becauſe it hath for the moſt part the ſignification of Paſſive, asDifficilis amatu, hard to be loved.

   • 1898,Henry Sweet, “Verbs”, inA New English Grammar: Logical and Historical (Clarendon Press Series), part II (Syntax), Oxford: At theClarendon Press [byHorace Hart],→OCLC,§§ 2314 and 2315,page118:

     Of the large number of verbs which take the infinitive in Old-English the greater number are now followed by thesupine.[…] The substitution of thesupine for the infinitive began in Old-English itself. Thus thesupine of purpose, as inhīe cōmon þæt land tō sċēawienne 'they came to spy out the land,' gradually supplanted the older infinitive with many verbs of desiring, intending, attempting, etc., so that while such a verb aswillan 'will' continued—as it still does in modern English—to take the infinitive only, other verbs of similar meaning,[…] began to take thesupine as well as the infinitive.

   • 2013, Emma Short,Alex George, “The Verb (Stearn, pp. 130–139)”, inA Primer of Botanical Latin with Vocabulary, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,→ISBN,page47:

     If youmust know, the verb finite (i.e. limited by person and number) has three persons, two numbers, six tenses and three moods, while the verb infinite (not so limited) has infinitives, three participles, the gerund and gerundive and twosupines.

   • 2016, Virginia Hill, Gabriela Albiou, “Supine Clauses: On the Road to Balkanization”, inVerb Movement and Clause Structure in Old Romanian (Oxford Studies in Diachronic & Historical Linguistics), Oxford:Oxford University Press,→ISBN,page267:

     The chapter focuses on thesupine clause, which is a language-specific construction. An example is offered in (1): the aspectual verbisprăvi 'finish' selects a clausal complement that contains asupine verb. We know that thesupine is a verb because its direct object is in unmarked Case (i.e. Accusative).Supine nouns, like any regular noun, have the direct object marked for Genitive Case.[…] The emergence and the spread of thesupine clause is very well captured in the Old Romanian texts, a situation that contrasts with the incomplete information we have about other clausal complements.

2. (grammar, alsoattributively) InSwedish,Faroese,Icelandic andOld Norse: averb form thatcombines with aninflection ofha/hafa/hava to form thepresent perfect andpluperfecttenses.
   • [1849], A[lfred] May, “Etymology”, inA Practical Grammar of the Swedish Language, with Reading- and Writing-exercises, Stockholm: A. Bonnier,→OCLC,page42:

     The three conjugations are distinguished principally by the ending of thesupine. In the first conjugation thesupine ends inat, as:tala speaktalat spoken. In the second conjugation thesupine ends int after a consonant, as:köpa buyköpt bought. In the third conjugation thesupine ends init, as:taga taketagit taken.

   • 2005, Ulf Teleman, “The Standard Languages and Their Systems in the 20th Century IV: Swedish”, in Herbert Ernst Wiegand, editor,The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages (Händbucher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft[Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science];22.2), volume 2, Berlin, New York, N.Y.:Walter de Gruyter,→ISBN, part XVI (The Nordic Languages in the 20th Century),pages1613–1614:

     There are two non-finite forms in Swedish, the infinitive and thesupine.[…] Thesupine has two basic allomorphs:-t (weak verbs) and-it (strong verbs).[…] Thesupine verb phrase serves as complement of the perfect auxiliaryha 'have' (hon hade bundit honom) which can be deleted, though, in subordinate clauses (eftersom hon [hade] bundit honom 'since she had bound him'). (Thesupine has existed as a morphologically distinct category in standard Swedish language at least since the 19th c.; cf. art. 155.)

3. (grammar, alsoattributively) (obsolete terminology) The 'to'-prefixed infinitive in English or other Germanic languages, so named because the infinitive was regarded as a verbal noun and the 'to'-prefixed form of it was seen as the dative form of the verbal noun; thefull infinitive.

• supine tense

• gerund
• infinitive

•  supine position on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•  supine (grammar) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•  supine (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• puisne,punies

supine f pl

1. feminineplural ofsupino

supīne

1. vocativemasculinesingular ofsupīnus

• “supine”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• supine inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.