Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Supine?

\Su*pine"\, a. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. {Sub-}, {Super-}.] 1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. 2. Leaning backward, or inclining with exposure to the sun; sloping; inclined. If the vine On rising ground be placed, or hills supine. --Dryden. 3. Negligent; heedless; indolent; listless. He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation. --Woodward. Syn: Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive; listless; careless; drowsy. -- {Su*pine"ly}, adv. -- {Su*pine"ness}, n.
\Su"pine\, n. [L. supinum (sc. verbum), from supinus bent or thrown backward, perhaps so called because, although furnished with substantive case endings, it rests or falls back, as it were, on the verb: cf. F. supin.] (Lat. Gram.) A verbal noun; or (according to C.F.Becker), a case of the infinitive mood ending in -um and -u, that in -um being sometimes called the former supine, and that in -u the latter supine.