supple

adj

Etymology: From Middle English souple, from Old French souple, soupple (“soft, lithe, yielding”), from Latin supplic-, supplex (“suppliant, submissive, kneeling”), of uncertain formation. Either from sub + plicō (“bend”) (compare complex), or from sub + plācō (“placate”). More at sub-, placate.

1. Pliant, flexible, easy to bend.

   “Global supply chains, meanwhile, have grown both tighter and more supple since the late 1990s—the result of improving information technology and of freer trade—making routine work easier to relocate.”

2. Lithe and agile when moving and bending.

   “supple joints”

   “supple fingers”

3. Compliant; yielding to the will of others.

   “a supple horse”

   “If punishment […] makes not the will supple, it hardens the offender.”

4. Smooth and drinkable.

name

1. A surname.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English souple, from Old French souple, soupple (“soft, lithe, yielding”), from Latin supplic-, supplex (“suppliant, submissive, kneeling”), of uncertain formation. Either from sub + plicō (“bend”) (compare complex), or from sub + plācō (“placate”). More at sub-, placate.

1. To make or become supple.

   “The flesh therewith she suppled and did steepe”

   “The Stones (a Miracle to Mortal View, / But long Tradition makes it paſs for true) / Did firſt the Rigour of their Kind expel, / And ſuppled into ſoftneſs, as they fell; […]”

2. To make compliant, submissive, or obedient.

   “They should supple our stiff wilfulness.”

   “a mother persisting till she had bent her daughter's mind and suppled her will”