SUPERNUMERARY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Supernumerary

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

Listen

noun

Supernumerary n. (pl. supernumeraries)

A person or thing beyond the number stated.

A person or thing beyond what is necessary or usual; especially, a person employed not for regular service, but only to fill the place of another in case of need; specifically, in theaters, a person who is not a regular actor, but is employed to appear in a stage spectacle.

adjective

Supernumerary adj.

Exceeding the number stated or prescribed; as, a supernumerary officer in a regiment.

Exceeding a necessary, usual, or required number or quality; superfluous; as, supernumerary addresses; supernumerary expense.

See images of 'Supernumerary'

Etymology of 'Supernumerary'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Supernumerary" Quotes from Famous Books

... gentleman en mufti, but wearing a military cap with an oil-skin cover, was revealed. Until now he had seemed an impassive supernumerary. But he was biding his time, and—with due respect be it said—saving his wind, and now in ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, Issue 45, July, 1861 • Various

... on the coast, we returned to Kuchin on Saturday the 19th, when we found that death had deprived us of our only musician on board the ship, a loss which was much felt by the crew, as he contributed much to their amusement. One of the supernumerary boys had also fallen a victim to the dysentery; but, although we deplored our loss, we had great reason to be thankful that it had been no greater, as on the day we left Kuchin, we had upwards of seventy men on the sick report. The same day, at noon, the anchor was weighed, and we dropped down ...

— Borneo and the Indian Archipelago - with drawings of costume and scenery • Frank S. Marryat

... expressed in terms of functionary clothes they had hoped to soothe their vanity. White cotton and a tinted tie would have been smilingly honoured; and the mere man was not flattered to perceive that he was less in esteem than the drapery common to the species. I never will be content to be a supernumerary ...

— My Tropic Isle • E J Banfield

... their due. But it was not so pleasant to look at Crosbie, who was fidgeting to get away to his office, to whom no power of choosing in the matter was really given, and whom the men regarded as being altogether supernumerary. The ladies had promised to be at the shop by half-past ten, so that Crosbie should reach his office at eleven—or a little after. But it was nearly eleven before they left the Gazebee residence, and it was very evident that half-an-hour among the carpets would be ...

— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... the flower-like head is supported upon a rounded stem, the joints of which are elaborately articulated with one another; and the fringed arms are composed each of a double series of alternating calcareous pieces. The Palaeozoic Urchins, with their supernumerary rows of plates, the Cystideans, and the Pentremites have finally disappeared; but both Star-fishes and Brittle-stars continue to be represented. One of the latter—namely, the Aspidura loricata of Goldfuss (fig. 143)—is ...

— The Ancient Life History of the Earth • Henry Alleyne Nicholson

More quotes...