supernumerary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌsuːpəˈnjuːm(ə)ɹ(ə)ɹi/
ipa: /ˌsupɚˈn(j)uməˌɹɛɹi/
Etymology: From Late Latin supernumerarius (“extra soldier added to a legion; supernumerary”), from super (“above; beyond”) + numerus (“number; collection, quantity”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns or numerals). The word is analysable as super- + numeral + -ary.
Senses: examples: text: This method applies to the observation of angles, usually obtained by repetitions; and instead of equating directions, as in the first method, its object is to furnish the most probable values for the several observed angles from a supernumerary number of angles.
ref: 1855, Chas. A. Schott, “[Appendix] Adjustment of Horizontal Angles of a Triangulation”, in Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Showing the Progress of the Survey during the Year 1854, Washington, D.C.: Beverley Tucker, public printer, →OCLC, page 76:
glosses: Greater in number than.
examples: text: I believe a hive, or swarm, has but one queen, at least I have never found more than one in a swarm, or in an old hive in the winter; and probably this is what constitutes a hive; for when there are two queens, it is likely that a division may begin to take place. Supernumerary queens are mentioned by Riem, who asserts he has seen them killed by the labourers, as well as the males.
ref: 1792 February 23, John Hunter, “VIII. Observations on Bees.”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume LXXXII, London: [Royal Society of London] Printed for T. Woodward, […], →DOI, →OCLC, page 171:
text: [T]he same agreeable and mild flavour can be imparted, as far as human experience has yet gone, by rennet, of which the basis is the coagulated milk in the stomachs of calves and lambs. The number of stomachs prepared must of course depend upon the number of cheeses to be made in a season, but prudence suggests the expedience of always having a supernumerary number.
ref: 1851, Martin Doyle [pseudonym; William Hickey], W[illiam Lewis] Rham, “CHEESE”, in A Cyclopædia of Practical Husbandry and Rural Affairs in General. […], new enlarged edition, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 136:
text: It is strange that, long as the College of Physicians and its regulations have been before the medical world, so little should be known as to the history and qualifications of the class called Extra-Licentiates. […] [M]any imagine that these physicians are supernumerary, over and above a certain number assigned to the Licentiates.
ref: 1853 April 23, “The Extra-licentiates of the College of Physicians”, in The Medical Times and Gazette: A Journal of Medical Science, Literature, Criticism, and News, volume VI (New Series; volume XXVII, Old Series), London: Published by John Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 427, column 2:
synonyms: epactal
glosses: Beyond the prescribed or standard amount or number; excess, extra.
examples: text: a supernumerary nipple; a supernumerary tooth
text: It [the term disk] means a supernumerary organ, different from the stamens or petals, and originating at the base of one or other of them. Nothing can well be more variable in its nature than this disk; in the Mignonette it is, as you see, a one-sided, hairy lobe; […]
ref: 1865, John Lindley, “Letter XXIX. The Mignonette Tribe—Disk—The Caper Tribe.”, in Ladies’ Botany: Or A Familiar Introduction to the Study of the Natural System of Botany. … In Two Volumes, 6th edition, volume II, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 38:
text: The Camera pulls back for a longer shot. Forty or fifty women, half of them with shaven heads, are sitting on the stairs, among the refuse on the floor, on the tattered remains of ancient beds and sofas. Each of them is nursing a baby, all the babies are ten weeks old, and all those belonging to shaven mothers are deformed. Over close-ups of little faces with hare lips, little trunks with stumps instead of legs and arms, little hands with clusters of supernumerary fingers, little bodies adorned with a double row of nipples, we hear the voice of the Narrator.
ref: 1948 August, Aldous Huxley, “The Script”, in Ape and Essence, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC:
text: There are two types of pulmonary arteries: conventional arteries that accompany airways and branch with them, and supernumerary arteries, which branch off the conventional ones at right angles and supply airspaces immediately adjacent to the bronchovascular tree.
ref: 1995, William M. Thurlbeck, “Lung Growth and Development”, in William M. Thurlbeck, Andrew M. Churg, editors, Pathology of the Lung, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Thieme Medical Publishers; Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag, →ISBN, page 45:
text: “Their aesthetic, if you haven't noticed, is about benign skin cancers, supernumerary nipples. Conventional tattoos belong firmly among the iconics of the hegemon. […]”
ref: 2014, William Gibson, “Death Cookie”, in The Peripheral, G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 6:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
synonyms: epactal
supranumerary
glosses: Beyond the prescribed or standard amount or number; excess, extra.
Of an organ or structure: additional to what is normally present.
examples: text: Resolved, that the Curators be authorized to exchange with other societies or individuals, such duplicate or supernumerary specimens of coins, medals, minerals and other articles as they may deem unnecessary to be retained in the Cabinet of the Society, for such other specimens, of equal value, as they may consider desirable to be added to the Society's present collection; […]
ref: 1853 January–June, “Stated Meeting, May 6”, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge, volume V, number 49, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for the [American Philosophical] Society, […], →OCLC, page 329:
synonyms: superfluous
unnecessary
unneeded
unwanted
glosses: Beyond what is necessary; redundant.
Derived terms: supernumerary rainbow
Related terms: word: supernumary
english: misconstructions
translation: misconstructions
word: supernumery
word: supererogatory