| 释义 |
▪ I. suˈpporting, vbl. n.
[f. support v. + -ing1.]
1. † Assistance, succour (obs.); backing.
1421Cov. Leet Bk. 36 To graunt hem a reward..in supportyng of hur honestye. 1436Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 163 To Fflaundres passe forth bye, They schulde not be suffrede..Ffor supportynge of oure cruelle enmyes. 1530Palsgr. 278/2 Supportyng, assistence, support. 1565Allen Defence Purg. (1886) 10 For which plain supporting of undoubted wickedness S. Jerome calleth them often Christian epicures, bolsterers of sin. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. III. App. E. 623 The proposing and supporting of opposing candidates.
2. Maintenance (of a person, an institution).
c1413York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 63 The forfetes..shalbe employed..to the craft to the supporting of their pageant and othere chargez. c1470Harding Chron. clxxxix. iii, To the pore supportyng. 1585T. 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.
c1449Pecock 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.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. vii. 196 The lifting or supporting of persons inebriated. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmoreld. 31 The Roof of the Colliery will not stand without supporting. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 35/2 Very improper and unfaithful in supporting of great Weights. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. (1842) 42 The tubes..will often require supporting.
†5. Taking away, removal. Obs. rare.
1608Willet 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.
c1610Norden Cornwall (1728) 91 The force of the water, which depriued them of the earth and other subportinge meanes. 1789Cowper Stanzas 14 Faith's supporting rod. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 513 They are rivetted fast into the supporting-piece OH. 1834–47J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 136 The number of supporting bodies necessary to form a bridge. 1880Bessey Bot. vii. 89 Certain inner cells..become modified into sclerenchyma, or some other supporting tissue. 1883Pall 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.
1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxii. 282 These supporting hopes the Lord sees necessary to encourage industry in the use of means. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. I. 46 The supporting Expectation of the like Rewards of our Sufferings. 1834Coleridge 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’. 1892F. Irwin Notes Fortific. (ed. 2) 82 In preparing a position for defence, certain supporting points or pivots would be selected. 1893Westm. 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.
1799Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 283 The supporting detachments, from which the skirmishers are advanced. 1892Pall 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. 1897M. 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.
1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 51 In Spanish possessions alone is a supporting allowance made to missionaries. 1900B. 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.
1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage v. 62 The fake star can be made to twinkle brightly by absorbing the surrounding light of the ‘supporting cast’. 1939Chatelaine Nov. 24/4 Some will continue for a while in minor productions and supporting roles. 1947M. 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]. 1966Listener 23 June 918/1 The supporting performances..are enthusiastically full-blooded. 1977Rolling 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.
1895Meredith Amazing Marr. xl, [They] must be either voluble or supportingly proud to keep the skin from shrinking. 1896F. H. Burnett Lady of Qual. xiii. 196 He gave her his arm and drew her..supportingly away. |