plural supplies
1
a
: the quantity or amount (as of a commodity) needed or available
beer was in short supply in that hot weather Nevil Shute
b
: provisions, stores
usually used in plural
c
: a member of the clergy filling a vacant pulpit temporarily
d
obsolete : reinforcements
often used in plural
2
: the act or process of filling a want or need
engaged in the supply of raw materials to industry
3
: the quantities of goods or services offered for sale at a particular time or at one price
4
: something that maintains or constitutes a supply
5
obsolete : assistance, succor

supply

2 of 3

verb

supplied; supplying

transitive verb

1
a
: to make available for use : provide
supplied the necessary funds
b
: to satisfy the needs or wishes of
c
: to provide for : satisfy
laws by which the material wants of men are supplied Bulletin of Bates College
d
: to furnish (organs, tissues, or cells) with a vital element (such as blood or nerve fibers)
2
: to substitute for another in
specifically : to serve as a supply in (a church or pulpit)
3
: to add as a supplement

intransitive verb

: to serve as a supply or substitute

supply

3 of 3

less common spelling of supplely

Examples of supply in a Sentence

Noun adequate supplies of fresh water He bought a month's supply of cigarettes. They took a month's worth of supplies on the camping trip.
Recent Examples on the Web
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Noun
These solutions enabled companies to reduce lead times, decrease working capital requirements, and improve uptime by ensuring the availability of supply for critical parts. 2024: Strategic Necessity Achieved 2024 marked the inflection point at which AI became integral to supply chain resilience. Paul J. Noble, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025 The 2025 edition of Code Moo returns to on Tuesday, July 15, promising free food while supplies last. Chris Sims, IndyStar, 15 July 2025
Verb
On the production side, Rae made sure to assemble the right crew to supply heat behind the boards with beats from Swizz Beatz, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Nottz throughout the 17-track album. Michael Saponara, Billboard, 18 July 2025 While ratings have dipped over the past few years, in line with the vast majority of other shows, MasterChef still averages a consolidated 28-day audience of more than 3M viewers, according to Barb data supplied by overnights.tv. Max Goldbart, Deadline, 18 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for supply

Word History

Etymology

Noun

derivative of supply entry 2

Verb

Middle English supplien "to fill up, accomplish, discharge (an office)," borrowed from Middle French soupplier "to add what is lacking to" (also souppleer, suploier "to make up for [a lack, deficiency]," suppleer a, soupplir "to replace"), going back to Latin supplēre "to fill up, complete, raise (a military unit, crew) to its full complement, make good a deficiency in," from sub- sub- + plēre "to fill" — more at full entry 1

Note: Though the French verb receives its semantic start with Latin supplēre, none of the great variety of formal outcomes appear to be directly traceable to it. Variants such as suploier and soupplier have evidently been crossed with outcomes of supplicāre "to sue for forgiveness, supplicate" (see also suppliant entry 1). The form suppleer, which may be directly behind Modern French suppléer, appears to have been both latinized (after supplēre) and conformed to verbs such as créer. The variant soupplir suggests the general Romance re-formation *supplīre (compare Old Occitan and Spanish suplir, Italian sopperire).

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 5

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 3

Time Traveler
The first known use of supply was in the 14th century

Cite this Entry

“Supply.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supply. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

supply

1 of 2 verb
supplied; supplying
1
: to add as a supplement
2
a
: to provide for : satisfy
enough to supply the demand
b
: to make available for use
supplied the necessary money
c
: to satisfy the needs or wishes of

supply

2 of 2 noun
plural supplies
1
a
: the quantity or amount of something that is needed or available
the nation's oil supply
b
: store entry 2 sense 1b
usually used in plural
2
: the act or process of filling a want or need
3
: the quantities of goods or services offered for sale at a particular time or at one price

Medical Definition

supply

transitive verb
supplied; supplying
: to furnish (organs, tissues, or cells) with a vital element (as blood or nerve fibers)
used of nerves and blood vessels
the mandibular foramen transmits blood vessels and nerves supplying the lower teeth

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