Also 4–5 supplaunt(e, 4–7 -plante, 7 suplant. See also SUBPLANT. [a. OF. supplanter (= It. soppiantare, Sp. suplantar, Pg. supplantar), or ad. L. supplantāre to trip up, overthrow, f. sup- = SUB- 25 + planta sole of the foot, PLANT sb.2]
† 1. trans. To trip up, cause to stumble or fall by tripping. Obs. rare.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxxvi. 33 [xxxvii. 31]. His gangyngis sall not be supplantid [Vulg. non supplantabuntur gressus eius]. Ibid., cxxxix. [cxl.] 5. Þe whilke thoght forto supplant my gatis.
1604. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph., Supplant, to trip, or ouerthrowe with the feet.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 513. His Armes clung lo his Ribs, his Leggs entwining Each other, till supplanted down he fell A monstrous Serpent.
b. To throw down, overturn. rare.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. v. He … has to straddle out his legs, lest the very wind supplant him.
† 2. fig. To cause to fall from a position of power, superiority or virtue; to cause the downfall of, bring low. Obs.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xvi. 14 [xvii. 13]. Rise lord, bifor cum him and supplant him.
1445. in Anglia, XXVIII. 269. Lechery the dowsett syn … coude nat the supplante.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 46. Oure lord jhesu Supplanted the devyl oure ruggyd enmy.
1522. More, De quat. Noviss., Wks. 85/1. He set vpon our fyrst parentes in paradyse, and by pride supplanted them.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 81. The diuell enuying these her vertuous studies, thought to supplant her.
1629. Massinger, Picture, II. ii. To suplant her ile imploy … Two noted courtiers of approued cunning In all the windings of lusts labirinthe.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 59. Nor these alone … Seek to supplant his inexperienc’d youth.
† b. To bring to nought, upset (a design, etc.).
1382. Wyclif, Job viii. 3. Whether God supplauntith dom, and the Almyȝti turneth vpso doun, that is riȝtwis?
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm. Rom. xi. 33, Wks. 1686, III. 257. Doth it not supplant his own designs, and unravel all that he for so many ages hath been doing?
3. To dispossess and take the place of (another), esp. by treacherous or dishonorable means. Also absol. † Const. of or from (a possession).
a. 1300. [implied in SUPPLANTER 1].
1382. Wyclif, Jer. ix. 4. Eche brother supplauntende shal supplaunte, and eche frend gilendely shal go.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 242. Agamenon Supplantede the worthi knyht Achilles of that swete wiht, Which named was Brexeida. Ibid., 243. Amphitrion him hath supplanted With sleyhte of love.
c. 1430. Freemasonry, 203. Ther schal no mayster supplante other.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 436. Lest he for his synguler auauntage wolde supplant hym of that erledam.
1529. in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. xiv. 256, marg. No man to supplant Another yn taking from hym his Cure.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. iii. 70. You three From Millaine did supplant good Prospero.
1656. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 4. I am not without fear that you may supplant me in hir favor.
1731. Bp. T. Wilson, in Keble, Life (1863), xxii. 759. He most unworthily supplanted and turned out the worthy Curate … out of his own cure of souls.
1838. Lytton, Calderon, i. 63. It became the object of his life to supplant his father.
1858. Longf., M. Standish, IV. 76. You have betrayed me! Me, Miles Standish, your friend! have supplanted, defrauded, betrayed me!
b. transf. (Cf. 6.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxvii[i]. (Bodl. MS.), lf. 234 b/1. Þe lefe þt is wiþ þe grape schal not be remeued … but þe oþer leues þat beþ ferre, for þese leues scholde supplante þe grapes.
† c. To get or take by supplantation. Obs. rare.
1484. Caxton, Curiall, 4 b. And after … another newe one cometh to the court and shal supplante thy benediction.
† 4. To take up by the roots; to root out, uproot (a plant or something likened thereto). Often in fig. context in association with PLANT sb.1 or PLANT v. Obs.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 238. The Normans … laboured by all means to supplant the English [language], and to plant their owne language amongst us.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 71. The tre supplanted, that first fro the roote seat is haled.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., I. i. 447. Dissemble all your griefes and discontents, You are but newly planted in your Throne, Least then the people … supplant vs for ingratitude. Ibid. (1610), Temp., III. ii. 56. Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, By this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
1624. Darcie, Birth of Heresies, To Rdr. Weedes, the which if they be not carefully and dayly supplanted, will soone ouergrow the good plants.
1631. R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc., xv. (1635), 79. Like a staffe stucke lightly in the ground, which every … blast of wind [may] supplant, and overthrow.
1644. Quarles, Barnabas & B., 326. Foxes destroy it [sc. a vineyard], and the wild boar supplants it.
5. To remove from its position, get rid of, oust; occas. to replace or supersede by something else. Now rare.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 67. I suppose that al your sorrow cannot with such facilitie be supplanted, but that a few sparkles wil remaine.
1603. Owen, Pembrokeshire, iii. (1892), 37. The Conqueror haueinge purpose to Supplante the Englishe nation out of England.
1604. Drayton, Owle, 614. Supplant the Alpes, and lay them smooth and plaine.
1624. Capt. J. Smith, Virginia, IV. 106. This in ten daies more, would haue supplanted vs all with death.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 609. War follow’d for revenge, or to supplant The envied tenants of some happier spot.
1819. Earl Lauderdale, Publ. Wealth, 347. The habits of a man possessed of small fortune … naturally suggest the desire of supplanting the labour he performs.
1862. Spencer, First Princ., I. v. § 32 (1875), 117. To supplant them by higher ones … is to set up vague and uninfluential motives for definite and influential ones.
6. Chiefly of things: To take the place of, succeed to the position of, supersede.
1671. Trenchfield, Cap Gray Hairs (1688), 18. ’Tis no hard matter for the talk of Religion, to supplant the practice of it.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 34. These pantomimes will very soon supplant all poetry.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., II. xii. 311. The genius of commerce was fast supplanting that nobler spirit which had made them a nation.
1857. Toulmin Smith, Parish, 100. Fresh Churchwardens can sue those whom they have supplanted.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 93. The minster, which has been wholly supplanted by work of later date.
† 7. (See quots.) Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XVII. xxiii. I. 537. Yet is there one manner besides of planting & maintaining Vines…: namely to supplant, that is, lay along upon the ground the whole stocke or maine bodie of a Vine.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Supplant (supplanto, a sub et planto), to plant underneath, to under-plant and set up a thing bending to the ground.
Hence Supplanted ppl. a.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 607. Now thou hast aveng’d Supplanted Adam.
1894. Nature’s Method in Evol. Life, iv. 55. Either … the supplanter is of a higher grade, or … the conditions of existence have become less favourable for the supplanted.
