a. and sb. Now rare or Obs. Also 7–8 supp-; erron. supellectual. [ad. L. supellectilis, prob. f. super, SUPER 1 + lectus couch: see -ILE.]
A. adj. Pertaining to or of the nature of household furniture; transf. ornamental.
1615. T. Adams, Blacke Devill, 4. Suppellectile complements in stead of substantial Graces.
1800. Hurdis, Fav. Village, 86.
| To see their supellectile treasures float | |
| In playful dance around. |
1843. Blackw. Mag., LIV. 527/1. The inhabitants had the choice of being fried or drowned, along with their penates and their supellectile property.
B. sb. Furniture (also fig.); scientific apparatus or equipment (see next).
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., *iv b. I am not the man which liveth by an other mans mutuated supellectilles.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 480. The Shops supellectuals … are almost innumerable.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1890), III. 44. To remove all their books … and such suppellectiles as they esteemed worth the trouble of carrying out.
1793. W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 78 (1794), III. 234. Ideas are the matter, the supellectile of the mind.
