▪ I. suˈpporting, vbl. n.
[f. support v. + -ing1.]
1. † Assistance, succour (obs.); backing.
| 1421 Cov. Leet Bk. 36 To graunt hem a reward..in supportyng of hur honestye. 1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 163 To Fflaundres passe forth bye, They schulde not be suffrede..Ffor supportynge of oure cruelle enmyes. 1530 Palsgr. 278/2 Supportyng, assistence, support. 1565 Allen Defence Purg. (1886) 10 For which plain supporting of undoubted wickedness S. Jerome calleth them often Christian epicures, bolsterers of sin. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. App. E. 623 The proposing and supporting of opposing candidates. |
2. Maintenance (of a person, an institution).
| c 1413 York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 63 The forfetes..shalbe employed..to the craft to the supporting of their pageant and othere chargez. c 1470 Harding Chron. clxxxix. iii, To the pore supportyng. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. vi. 79 All other thinges necessary for the supporting of his house & estate. |
† 3. The action of making good a defect; repair.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. x. 338 The endewing ȝouun to the brigge of Londoun into the supporting of his contynuel appeiring [= impairing]. |
4. The action of holding or propping up.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. vii. 196 The lifting or supporting of persons inebriated. 1709 T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmoreld. 31 The Roof of the Colliery will not stand without supporting. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 35/2 Very improper and unfaithful in supporting of great Weights. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. (1842) 42 The tubes..will often require supporting. |
† 5. Taking away, removal. Obs. rare.
| 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. x. 121 In those daies I will cause the sunne to go downe at noone, and I will darken the earth in the cleare day..The supporting of the light of the sunne, the priuative cause, and the bringing of darknesse vpon the aire, the positiue cause. |
▪ II. suˈpporting, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That keeps from falling or sinking; that holds or props something up. Now chiefly technical.
| c 1610 Norden Cornwall (1728) 91 The force of the water, which depriued them of the earth and other subportinge meanes. 1789 Cowper Stanzas 14 Faith's supporting rod. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 513 They are rivetted fast into the supporting-piece OH. 1834–47 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 136 The number of supporting bodies necessary to form a bridge. 1880 Bessey Bot. vii. 89 Certain inner cells..become modified into sclerenchyma, or some other supporting tissue. 1883 Pall Mall G. 17 Mar. 10/2 The supporting arch underneath it having given way. |
2. That preserves from failing or giving way; sustaining.
supporting point: a fortified point or pivot in a line of defence.
| 1681 J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxii. 282 These supporting hopes the Lord sees necessary to encourage industry in the use of means. 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. I. 46 The supporting Expectation of the like Rewards of our Sufferings. 1834 Coleridge Table-t. (1836) 320 The supporting assurance of a reconciled God, who will not withdraw his spirit from me in the conflict. 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. 25 A remark..to the effect that ‘there was something very supporting about a glass of sherry’. 1892 F. Irwin Notes Fortific. (ed. 2) 82 In preparing a position for defence, certain supporting points or pivots would be selected. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 18 Feb. 8/1 A collapse in the entire market was only prevented by some strong supporting orders in such stocks as Milwaukees. |
3. That gives assistance or relief; also, confirmatory, corroborative.
| 1799 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 283 The supporting detachments, from which the skirmishers are advanced. 1892 Pall Mall G. 26 Sept. 5/1 A supporting party was taken as far as the Humboldt Glacier, where they turned back, and Mr. Peary and Mr. Astrup alone went on. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 525 This bore out the theory..[but] in the Bantu case I did not hear of such a supporting incident happening. |
4. That provides subsistence or maintenance.
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 51 In Spanish possessions alone is a supporting allowance made to missionaries. 1900 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, Supporting Plant, a plant upon or in which another grows; a host plant. |
5. Of actors or their roles, or of items in a programme of entertainment, usu. at a cinema: subordinate, less important.
| 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage v. 62 The fake star can be made to twinkle brightly by absorbing the surrounding light of the ‘supporting cast’. 1939 Chatelaine Nov. 24/4 Some will continue for a while in minor productions and supporting roles. 1947 M. Gilbert Close Quarters vii. 108, I reached the cinema in time for the beginning of the supporting picture. 1953 [see big stuff s.v. big a. B 2]. 1966 Listener 23 June 918/1 The supporting performances..are enthusiastically full-blooded. 1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 31/3 Blondie begins to seek out that untapped audience with a supporting slot on Iggy Pop's American tour. |
Hence suˈpportingly adv., so as to support; in quot. 1895, with an unshrinking spirit.
| 1895 Meredith Amazing Marr. xl, [They] must be either voluble or supportingly proud to keep the skin from shrinking. 1896 F. H. Burnett Lady of Qual. xiii. 196 He gave her his arm and drew her..supportingly away. |