supinely, adv.
(s(j)uːˈpaɪnlɪ)
[f. supine a. + -ly2.]
In a supine position or manner.
1. On one's back. Also transf. of inanimate things. Chiefly poet.
| 1656 Cowley Anacreont. ix. 2 Underneath this Myrtle shade, On flowry beds supinely laid. 1703 Rowe Fair Penit. Epil. 15 Who Snores at Night supinely by her Side. c 1706 Prior Cantata 3 Beneath a verdant Lawrel's ample Shade,..Horace, immortal Bard, supinely laid. 1759 Phil. Trans. LI. 305 The patient being supinely placed upon a steady table,..I caused his hands and feet to be tied together. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound 429 Now, he lies A helpless trunk supinely, at full length. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus xvii. 4 Lest it [sc. the bridge] plunge to the deep morass, there supinely to welter. Ibid. xxxii. 11 Here I languish alone, supinely dreaming. |
2. With lack of exertion or attention; inertly, indolently; † passively.
| 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus ii. ii. 382 If hee, for whom it is so strongly labour'd, Shall, out of greatnesse and free spirit, be Supinely negligent. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. §54 This doctrine..was most supinely and stupidly submitted to. 1681 Dryden Span. Friar iii. iii, But when long try'd, and found supinely good, Like æsop's Log, they leapt upon his Back. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1704) 296 Neither is the Aqueous Humor, as some may supinely imagine, altogether useless. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 301 The Spaniards..who are the most supinely negligent people in the world. 1749 Smollett Regicide ii. iv, Shall I, alas! Supinely savage, from my ears exclude The cries of youthful woe? 1781 Cowper Hope 198 If priest, supinely droning o'er his charge. 1830 Herschel Study Nat. Phil. i. iii. §65. 74 Supinely and helplessly carried down the stream of events. |