From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Supine \Su*pine"\ (s[-u]*p[imac]n"), a. [L. supinus, akin to sub
under, super above. Cf. {Sub-}, {Super-}.]
1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to
{prone}.
[1913 Webster]
2. Leaning backward, or inclining with exposure to the sun;
sloping; inclined.
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If the vine
On rising ground be placed, or hills supine.
--Dryden.
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3. Negligent; heedless; indolent; listless.
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He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly
exposed to any temptation. --Woodward.
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Syn: Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive;
listless; careless; drowsy.
[1913 Webster] -- {Su*pine"ly}, adv. -- {Su*pine"ness},
n.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Supine \Su"pine\ (s[=u]"p[imac]n), n. [L. supinum (sc. verbum),
from supinus bent or thrown backward, perhaps so called
because, although furnished with substantive case endings, it
rests or falls back, as it were, on the verb: cf. F. supin.]
(Lat. Gram.)
A verbal noun; or (according to C.F.Becker), a case of the
infinitive mood ending in -um and -u, that in -um being
sometimes called the former supine, and that in -u the latter
supine.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
supine
adj 1: lying face upward [syn: {supine}, {resupine}]
2: offering no resistance; "resistless hostages"; "No other
colony showed such supine, selfish helplessness in allowing
her own border citizens to be mercilessly harried"- Theodore
Roosevelt [syn: {resistless}, {supine}, {unresisting}]
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