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/sˈəpəl/ Listen

adjective

Supple adj.

Pliant; flexible; easily bent; as, supple joints; supple fingers.

Yielding; compliant; not obstinate; submissive to guidance; as, a supple horse. "If punishment... makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender."

Bending to the humor of others; flattering; fawning; obsequious.

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

verb

Supple v. t. (past & past part. suppled; pres. part. suppling)

To make soft and pliant; to render flexible; as, to supple leather. "The flesh therewith she suppled and did steep."

To make compliant, submissive, or obedient. "A mother persisting till she had bent her daughter's mind and suppled her will." "They should supple our stiff willfulness."

Supple v. i. To become soft and pliant. "The stones... Suppled into softness as they fell."

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Etymology of 'Supple'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Supple" Quotes from Famous Books

... to WILDRAKE.] Good Master Wildrake, look more cheerfully!—Come, You do not honour to my wedding-day. How brisk am I! My body moves on springs! My stature gives no inch I throw away; My supple joints play free and sportfully; I'm every atom ...

— The Love-Chase • James Sheridan Knowles

... Riderhood and no other, or it is the outer husk and shell of Riderhood and no other, that is borne into Miss Abbey's first-floor bedroom. Supple to twist and turn as the Rogue has ever been, he is sufficiently rigid now; and not without much shuffling of attendant feet, and tilting of his bier this way and that way, and peril even of his sliding off it and being tumbled in a heap over ...

— Our Mutual Friend • Charles Dickens

... venture upon her new snow-shoes. The simple breakfast ended, and clad in her woodland suit, Sam taught her how to arrange the magic slippers upon her moccasined feet. How Dane's heart would have thrilled could he have seen her standing before the lodge, her lithe, supple body drawn to its full height, her face aglow, her eyes sparkling, and her furry cap poised lightly upon her head surrounded by a wealth of soft, billowy hair. The rude lodge, the great trees, and the fair girl standing there formed a scene of surpassing charm which many an ...

— The King's Arrow - A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists • H. A. Cody

... love 'em, each supple-shanked lad, 'Most as much as—Statistics. To trudge it For them makes my bosom as glad As—Big Surplus, and Popular Budget; And so I should like to secure them a run, Combining snug safety ...

— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100. February 14, 1891. • Various

... in screaming wild alarms O'er a dead carcase muttering her charms, 410 (And with her frequent and tremendous yell Forcing great Hecate from out of hell) Shoots in the corpse a new fictitious soul; With instant glare the supple eyeballs roll, Again it moves and speaks, and life informs ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith • Oliver Goldsmith

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