supines

Noun

supine (plural supines)

1. (also, attributive) In Latin and other languages: a type of verbal noun used in the ablative and accusative cases, which shares the same stem as the passive participle.
   • And here also you may observ, that the syllable which is doubled in the Preterperfect tens is not doubled in the Supines, as totondi to clip, make's tonsum: cecídi to beat, cæsum: […]1653, Charles Hoole, “Of the Supines of Simple Verbs”, in The Latine Grammar Fitted for the Use of Schools. […], 2nd corrected edition, London: Printed by William Du-Gard; and are to bee sold by John...
2. (also, attributive) In Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic and Old Norse: a verb form that combines with an inflection of ha/hafa/hava to form the present perfect and pluperfect tenses.
   • The three conjugations are distinguished principally by the ending of the supine. In the first conjugation the supine ends in at, as: tala speak talat spoken. In the second conjugation the supine ends in t after a consonant, as: köpa buy köpt bought. In the third conjugation the supine ends in it...[1849], A[lfred] May, “Etymology”, in A Practical Grammar of the Swedish Language, with Reading- and Writing-exercises, Stockholm: A. Bonnier, →OCLC, page 42
3. (also, attributive) (obsolete terminology) The 'to'-prefixed infinitive in English or other Germanic languages, so named because the infinitive was regarded as a verbal noun and the 'to'-prefixed form of it was seen as the dative form of the verbal noun; the full infinitive.

See all 7 meanings of supine