Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - supply

(supplies, supplying, supplied) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you supply someone with something that they want or need, you give them a quantity of it. ...an agreement not to produce or supply chemical weapons. ...a pipeline which will supply the major Greek cities with Russian natural gas. ...the blood vessels supplying oxygen to the brain. VERB: V n, V n with n, V n to n 2. You can use supplies to refer to food, equipment, and other essential things that people need, especially when these are provided in large quantities. What happens when food and gasoline supplies run low?... The country’s only supplies are those it can import by lorry from Vietnam. N-PLURAL: oft n N 3. A supply of something is an amount of it which someone has or which is available for them to use. The brain requires a constant supply of oxygen... Most urban water supplies in the United States now contain fluoride in varying amounts. N-VAR: N of n, n N 4. Supply is the quantity of goods and services that can be made available for people to buy. (BUSINESS) Prices change according to supply and demand. ? demand N-UNCOUNT 5. If something is in short supply, there is very little of it available and it is difficult to find or obtain. Food is in short supply all over the country... PHRASE: usu v-link PHR