In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
SUPINE
supine
(adjective) passive as a result of indolence or indifference; “No other colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried”- Theodore Roosevelt
supine, resupine
(adjective) lying face upward
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
supine (comparative more supine, superlative most supine)
Lying on its back.
Synonym: reclined
Antonyms: prone, prostrate
(figuratively) Reluctant to take action due to indifference or moral weakness; apathetic or passive towards something.
Synonyms: passive, peaceful, lazy, lethargic, listless
(rare, now, poetic) Inclining or leaning backward; inclined, sloping.
Synonyms: inclined, sloping
Antonyms
• nonsupine
Noun
supine (plural supines)
(grammar, also, attributively) In Latin and other languages: a type of verbal noun used in the ablative and accusative cases, which shares the same stem as the passive participle.
(grammar, also, attributively) In Swedish: a verb form that combines with an inflection of ha to form the present perfect and pluperfect tenses.
Anagrams
• puisne, punies
Source: Wiktionary
Su*pine", a. Etym: [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. Etym: [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.)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
22 January 2025
MEGALITH
(noun) memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)
Coffee Trivia
