Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Supine
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
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
, Noun.
Su′pine
(sū′pīn)
, Noun.
[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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Supine
SUPI'NE
,Adj.
1.
Leaning backward; or inclining with exposure to the sun. If the vine
On rising ground be plac'd on hills supine--
2.
Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive. He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation.
These men suffer by their supine credulity.