[f. SUPPLE a. + -NESS.] The quality or condition of being supple.
1. Flexibility and elasticity: sometimes with implication of nimbleness of movement (cf. 2).
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 610. The Supplenesse and Gentlenesse of the Iuyce of that Plant, being that which maketh the Boughes also so Flexible.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 69. There is no part … in which the Subtility and Suppleness of the Sap more claim our Admiration, than in Trees that are grafted.
1782. Sir J. Reynolds, Disc., xi. (1876), 29. That suppleness which is the characteristic of flesh.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. I. ii. 134. By scouring, silk acquires its suppleness and whiteness.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., ix. (1883), 186. Hair like the fibrous covering of a cocoa-nut in … suppleness as well as color.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., V. ii. (1872), II. 68. You have beaten Louis XIV. to the suppleness of washleather.
2. Of the body or limbs: Capability of bending easily.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat., I. II. xx. 47. Nature may have prepared one man for a dancer by giving him strength and suppleness in his joints.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 165. Serpents … have the length and the suppleness of the eel.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xiii. Giving his right arm two or three flourishes to try its power and suppleness.
1893. Eccles, Sciatica, 80. Elderly persons from whom feats of suppleness could not be expected.
3. Flexibility or adaptability of mind, character, etc.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, v. (1596), 62. Children … through the great supplenesse of their braine, abound in memory.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 160. He hath both the substance and the suppleness which are necessary in dealing with the brains of that country.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1848), 35. Bringing those that use to write their Thoughts to what may be call’d a certain Suppleness of Style.
1807. Knox & Jebb, Corr. (1834), I. 328. A certain suppleness in your mental powers, by virtue of which they will bend to all occasions and subjects, with an ease and readiness [etc.].
1878. O. W. Holmes, Motley, xxi. 187. As a diplomatic his great want is suppleness.
4. Yielding disposition or character, compliantness, complaisance. ? Obs. exc. as in b.
1629. Donne, Serm. Whitsunday (1640), 309. God findes a better disposition, and souplenesse, and maturity, and mellowing, to concurre with his motion in that man.
1671. Woodhead, St. Teresa, I. xxv. 172. There never remains any sweetness, or softness, or suppleness in the Soul; but she is, as it were, frighted.
1752. Johnson, Rambler, No. 189, ¶ 11. A governess, whom misfortunes had reduced to suppleness and humility.
b. Servile or obsequious compliance or complaisance.
c. 1727. Harte, Eulogius, 398. He smooth’d his voice to the Bizantine note, With courtly suppleness unfurl’d his face.
1838. Lytton, Alice, III. i. Naturally dictatorial and presumptuous, his early suppleness to superiors was now exchanged for a self-willed pertinacity.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. ii. I. 13. He had none of the duplicity or of the suppleness which often marks the character of the courtier.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 207. The ever-rising tide of Roman sensuality and Græco-Syrian suppleness.
