supernumerary, a. and n.
(s(j)uːpəˈnjuːmərərɪ)
[ad. late L. supernumerārius applied to soldiers added to a legion after it is complete, f. super numerum: see super- 11 and -ary1. Cf. obs. F. supernumeraire (mod.F. surnuméraire), It. soprannumerario, Sp., Pg. supernumerario.]
A. adj.
1. a. That is beyond or in excess of the usual, proper, regular, stated, or prescribed number or † quantity; additional, extra, left over. Now rare in the general sense.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. §1 As for that part [of theology], which seemeth supernumerarie, which is Prophecie, it is but Diuine Historie. 1640 Bp. Hall Episc. ii. iii. 96 St. Paul, the Posthumous, and Supernumerary, but no lesse glorious Apostle. 1684 Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 258 Only by one vote supernumerary, they repelled the late Magistrates defences. 1694 Falle Jersey ii. 70 To buy up this Supernumerary Cidar, and distill it into Brandy. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 110 ¶2 When Night heightens the Awfulness of the Place, and pours out her supernumerary Horrors upon every thing in it. 1712 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 425 Mr. Burgher's Plate is mightily approv'd of... I have had supernumerary Copies wrought off. 1742 Blair Grave 19 The sickly taper..Lets fall a supernumerary horror. 1749 [J. Mason] Numbers in Poet. Comp. 61 This Measure consists of all Trochees, with a supernumerary long Syllable at the End of the Line. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 29 ¶3 The hours which I was obliged to watch..I considered as supernumerary. 1831 Brewster Optics xxxii. 265 Within the primary rainbow,..and without the secondary one, there have been seen supernumerary bows. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. xi. 344 My supernumerary fellow-boarder, whom I would have dispensed with as a cumberer of the table, has proved a ministering angel. |
In post-position or predicatively (const. to).
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii. 219 The intercalation of one day every fourth yeare,..or 6 houres supernumerary. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 887 A Rib.. from me drawn, Well if thrown out, as supernumerarie To my just number found. 1670 Wallis in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 519, I sent yesterday..a cut supernumerary to perfect what I sent you before. |
b. spec. Applied to an official, officer, or employee not formally belonging to the regular body or staff, but associated with it to assist in case of need or emergency. (See B. b, c.)
| 1624 Ld. Kpr. Williams in Fortescue Papers (Camden) 203 To make him a supernumerarye Iudge of the Common Pleas, without fee or charge. 1683 W. Lloyd in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 188 To be a supernumerary Usher in his Schoole. 1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 67 Edward Southwell, esq.,..is sworn..a supernumerary clerk to the councill. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 139 In some of the said Churches there are supernumerary Canons (whom we falsely call Prebendaries). 1802 James Milit. Dict., Supernumerary... In a strict military sense it means the officers and non-commissioned officers that are attached to a regiment or battalion for the purpose of supplying the places of such as fall in action, and for the better management of the rear ranks when the front is advancing or engaged. 1824 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 309 A youthful supernumerary compositor..in a printing establishment. |
c. Bot. and Zool. Applied to structures or organs occurring (either in individuals or in types) in addition to the normal ones.
| 1733 G. Douglas tr. Winslow's Anat. i. ii. §19 (1756) I. 53, I call by the name of supernumerary Bones, several pieces found in some Skulls, chiefly between the Parietal and Occipital Bones. Ibid., The supernumerary Teeth placed out of the Rank of the rest. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 469 Dactylopterus..volitans,..supernumerary pectoral fins very large. 1835 Lyell Princ. Geol. iii. iii. (ed. 4) II. 438 Those races of dogs which have a supernumerary toe on the hind foot. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 26 Accessory or Supernumerary Buds. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 563 Supernumerary teeth are not infrequently found in the upper incisive region. |
d. Genetics. Of a chromosome: additional to the normal complement of autosomes and sex chromosomes. Cf. sense f of the n. below.
| 1907 E. B. Wilson in Biol. Bull. XII. 304 The unpaired chromosome may be either present or absent in either the male or female, and hence is without significance in sex-production. It is in fact a kind of supernumerary chromosome, which I shall designate as the ‘s-chromosome’ in order to distinguish it from the odd sex-chromosome of the usual type. 1927 Jrnl. Agric. Res. XXXV. 782 The distribution of a supernumerary chromosome to the four daughter cells has been studied and found to be erratic. 1969 Brown & Bertke Textbk. Cytol. xviii. 380/1 Supernumerary chromosomes are usually much smaller than the autosomes and for that reason have often been termed ‘fragment’ chromosomes. |
2. That is beyond the number needed or desired; superfluous, unnecessary. Now rare.
| 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. i. vi. 54 The lavish, and super⁓numerary carowses of drunkennesse. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 130 That he might therefore take the better notice of what was supernumerary to his own preservation. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 413 ¶6 Were it not to add Supernumerary Ornaments to the Universe. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 126 ¶5 Nor should it [sc. fear] be suffered to..beset life with supernumerary distresses. 1847 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun i, He had three daughters already... Supernumerary daughters were the very nuisance of Spain. |
† 3. Exceeding or excessive in number; too or more numerous. Obs. rare.
| 1682 Sec. Plea Nonconf. 58 Here's a Religious Exercise to a supernumerary Company. 1715 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 27 We shall have few Tories in. [We] hear,..the Whigs in England are vastly supernumerary. |
B. n. A supernumerary person or thing; one beyond the regular, usual, or necessary number; an additional or extra one associated with the regular body or set; esp. a supernumerary official or employee. a. gen.
| 1639 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. IV. 206 You may consult with Vida and Eracastorius; and if they be not of the same opinion, Scaliger may be the supernumerary. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. i. ii. §11. 236 That Divine Providence in the generations of Fishes, Birds and Beasts, cast up in her account the Supernumeraries that were to be meat for the rest. 1670 R. Coke Disc. Trade 36 Supernumeraries of Solicitors, Bankers, Scriveners, and Userers. 1691 in Cal. Treas. Papers (1868) I. Pref. 52 Your pet{supr} collected the duty of excise..of Endfield..and in bringing to London the money..he and the supervisor & supernumerary were sett upon neare Edmington. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 225 When I Plant two Roots near each other..I..reject both Branches which shoot from the two opposite Ears, to avoid that Confusion of those Supernumeraries which injure the principal Stem. 1737 Fielding Tumble-down Dick Ded., You are too great..a Manager, to keep a needless super⁓numerary in your house. 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies ii, Such of our horses as had not been tired out..were taken with us as pack-horses, or supernumeraries. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 358 The eldest son must inherit the manor; what to do with this supernumerary? |
b. On board ship, a sailor, or one of a body of sailors, over and above the ship's complement.
| 1666 Pepys Diary 23 July, Sixteen ships..certainly might have been manned, and they been serviceable in the fight, and yet the fleete well-manned, according to the excesse of supernumeraries, which we hear they have. 1758 M.P.'s Let. on Navy 11 The..Practice of bearing Men upon the Books of his Majesty's Ships..as Supernumeraries; under which Denomination they are intitled to Victuals only..and not to Wages. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xv, The whole crew with our black supernumeraries. |
c. An additional officer attached to a body of men in the army or navy for some special purpose.
| 1796 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 35 Each rank in single file (the rear supernumeraries still on the flank). 1811 Regul. & Orders Army 109 For the purpose of Instruction, young Officers may be put on Duty as Supernumeraries with senior Officers. 1849 Cobden Speeches 85 Supernumeraries (superintendents from admirals downwards). 1877–81 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. Suppl. s.v., An officer shall be retained as a supernumerary on the strength of the regiment or corps:—(a) In case of a reduction in the establishment or corps... (b) While waiting a vacancy after retiring from the Seconded List. |
d. A retired Wesleyan minister.
| [a 1791 Wesley Minutes Sev. Convers. Wks. 1830 VIII. 326 How can we provide for superannuated and supernumerary Preachers?] a 1791 ― in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 35 When his strength for labour fails him, he..is made a supernumerary, and derives a small assistance..from a fund to which he paid, during his health, one guinea per annum. 1822 J. MacDonald Mem. J. Benson 437 Mr. Rankin, an old Preacher..who resided in London as a Supernumerary. 1885 Minutes Wesleyan Conf. 11 What Supernumeraries now return to the full work? |
e. Theatr. A person employed in addition to the regular company, who appears on the stage but does not speak. Colloq. abbreviated super (see super n. 3).
| 1755 C. Charke Life 115 A poor, beggarly Fellow, who had been sometimes Supernumerary in Drury-Lane Theatre. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Brokers' Shops, Purchased of some wretched supernumeraries or sixth-rate actors. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 383/1, I..sunk to be a supernumerary for 1s. a night at one of the theatres. 1886 Academy 30 Jan. 83/2 A stage crowded with supernumeraries, flooded with strange lights. |
f. Genetics. A chromosome which may be absent from normal individuals of either sex, having little or no effect on phenotype and occurring irregularly.
| 1909 E. B. Wilson in Jrnl. Exper. Zool. VI. 150 The chromosomes in question are the ones which in earlier papers I have called the ‘supernumeraries’. 1917 E. E. Carothers in Jrnl. Morphol. XXVIII. 469 Another variation which has attracted attention in our collection of Acridian material..is the presence in certain individuals of one, or sometimes two, entities which I shall designate as supernumeraries. They possess the staining capacity of chromatin. 1969 Brown & Bertke Textbk. Cytol. xviii. 381/1 A..peculiarity of supernumeraries which seems to indicate that they have genes for their own survival is preferential fertilization in corn. |
Hence superˈnumeraryship, the position of a supernumerary.
| 1898 B. Gregory Side Lights 548 The second supernumeraryship of Mr. Everett. |