Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUP-PORT-LESS, a.

Having no support. Battle of Frogs and Mice.

SUP-PORT-MENT, n.

Support. [Not in use.] – Wotton.

SUP-POS-A-BLE, a. [from suppose.]

That may be supposed; that may be imagined to exist. That is not a supposable case.

SUP-POS-AL, n. [from suppose.]

Position without proof; the imagining of something to exist; supposition. Interest, with a Jew, never proceeds but upon supposal at least, of a firm and sufficient bottom. [Obs.] – South.

SUP-POSE, n.

Supposition; position without proof. Fit to be trusted on a bare suppose / That she is honest. [Not in use.] – Dryden.

SUP-POSE, v.t. [suppo'ze; Fr. supposer; L. suppositus, suppono; It. supporre; Sp. suponer; sub and pono, to put.]

1. To lay down or state as a proposition or fact that may exist or be true, though not known or believed to be true or to exist; or to imagine or admit to exist, for the sake of argument or illustration. Let us suppose the earth to be the center of the system, what would be the consequence? When we have as great assurance that a thing is, as we could possibly, supposing it were, we ought not to doubt of its existence. – Tillotson.
2. To imagine; to believe; to receive as true. Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons; for Amnon only it dead. – 2 Sam. xiii.
3. To imagine; to think. I suppose, / If our proposals once again were heard … – Milton.
4. To require to exist or be true. The existence of things supposes the existence of a cause of the things. One falsehood supposes another, and renders all you say suspected. – Female Quixote.
5. To put one thing by fraud in the place of another. [Not in use.]

SUP-POS-ED, pp.

Laid down or imagined as true; imagined; believed; received as true.

SUP-POS-ER, n.

One who supposes. – Shak.

SUP-POS-ING, ppr.

Laying down or imagining to exist or be true; stating as a case that may be; imagining; receiving as true.

SUP-PO-SI'TION, n.¹

1. The act of laying down, imagining or admitting as true or existing, what is known not to be true or what is not proved.
2. The position of something known not to be true or not proved; hypothesis. This is only an infallibility upon supposition, that if a thing be true, it is impossible to be false. – Tillotson.
3. Imagination; belief without full evidence.

SUP-PO-SI'TION, n.²

In music, the use of two successive notes of equal length, one of which being a discord supposes the other a concord.

SUP-PO-SI'TION-AL, a.

Hypothetical. – South.

SUP-POS-I-TI'TIOUS, a. [L. supposititius, from suppositus, suppono.]

Put by trick in the place or character belonging to another; not genuine; as a supposititious child; a supposititious writing. – Addison.

SUP-POS-I-TI'TIOUS-LY, adv.

Hypothetically; by supposition.

SUP-POS-I-TI'TIOUS-NESS, n.

The state of being supposititious.

SUP-POS'I-TIVE, a.

Supposed; including or implying supposition. – Chillingworth.

SUP-POS'I-TIVE, n. [supra.]

A word denoting or implying supposition. – Harris.

SUP-POS'I-TIVE-LY, adv.

With, by or upon supposition. – Hammond.

SUP-POS'I-TO-RY, n. [Fr. suppositoire.]

In medicine, a body introduced into the rectum to procure stools when clysters cannot be administered. – Parr.

SUP-PRESS', v.t. [L. suppressus, supprimo; sub and premo, to press.]

1. To overpower and crush; to subdue; to destroy; as, suppress a rebellion; to suppress a mutiny or riot; to suppress opposition. Every rebellion when it is suppressed, makes the subject weaker, and the government stronger. – Davies.
2. To keep in; to restrain from utterance or vent; as, suppress the voice; to suppress sighs.
3. To retain without disclosure; to conceal; not to tell or reveal; as, to suppress evidence. She suppresses the name, and this keeps him in a pleasing suspense. – Broome.
4. To retain without communication or making public; as, to suppress a letter; to suppress a manuscript.
5. To stifle; to stop; to hinder from circulation; as, to suppress a report.
6. To stop; to restrain; to obstruct from discharges; as, to suppress a diarrhea, a hemorrhage and the like.

SUP-PRESS'ED, pp.

Crushed; destroyed; retained; concealed; stopped; obstructed.

SUP-PRESS'ING, ppr.

Subduing; destroying; retaining closely; concealing; hindering from disclosure or publication; obstructing.

SUP-PRES'SION, n. [Fr. from L. suppressio.]

1. The act of suppressing, crushing or destroying; as, the suppression of a riot, insurrection or tumult.
2. The act of retaining from utterance, vent or disclosure; concealment; as, the suppression of truth, of reports, of evidence and the like.
3. The retaining of any thing from public notice; as, the suppression of a letter or any writing.
4. The stoppage, obstruction or morbid retention of discharges; as, the suppression of urine, of diarrhea or other discharge.
5. In grammar or composition, omission; as, the suppression of a word.

SUP-PRESS'IVE, a.

Tending to suppress; subduing; concealing. – Seward.

SUP-PRESS'OR, n.

One that suppresses; one that subdues; one that prevents utterance, disclosure or communication.