Other forms: supplies, supplied, supplying
To supply is to make something available to those who need it. Supply the goods, supply and demand, a supply of water.
Supply and demand is the pair that sets prices, and the useful half of the idea is that supply responds slowly — which is why shortages last. A supply teacher is one covering absences. In the plural, supplies are the things themselves. Note that the Latin means to fill up.
1verbsupplyTo make something available to those who need it.
“The farm supplies fresh milk to shops in the area.”
2nounamountAn amount available.
“We took a supply of food and water for the long hike.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
supply is a providing.
Latin supplere means to fill up — sub plus plere, to fill. Complete, plenty and plus come from the same filling.
Middle English
supplien
English, today
supply
From Middle English supplien. From Middle English supplien, borrowed from Old French soupleer, souploier, from Latin suppleo (“to fill up, make full, complete, supply”). The Middle English spelling was modified to conform to Latin etymology.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA