supporter

Etymology

From Middle English supporter, supportour, equivalent to support + -er.

noun

1. A person who gives support to someone or something.
   1. A person who supports, promotes, advocates or champions a cause, movement, or political party; an adherent.
      During the latter part of the rebellion, he has pretended to be a warm supporter of the Government, and he may have been sincere; but, from what others have told me, he said to them he was not during the early part of the rebellion. 1865, “Defense of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd”, in Benn Pitman, compiler, The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators David E. Herold, Mary E. Surratt, Lewis Payne, George A. Atzerodt, Edward Spangler, Samuel A. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlin, Cincinnati, Oh., New York, N.Y.: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, →OCLC, page 189
      Linda Sanchez […] Strong supporter of intellectual property rights; consistently voted in favor of artists and songwriters on bills before the intellectual property subcommittee. 4 November 2006, Susan Butler, “Voters Guide: So Many Candidates. Who's Going to Mind Your Business?”, in Billboard, volume 118, number 44, New York, N.Y.: VNU Business Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 32
   2. A person who provides moral or physical support to another; an attendant participating in a ceremony or procession.
      The Inthronization. The King ascended the Theatre, accompanied by the two Bishops his Supporters, the Great Officers of State, the Lords carrying the Swords, and the Lords who had borne Their Majesties' Regalia, and was Inthroned by the Archbishops, Bishops, and the other Peers, who then stood about the steps of the Throne. 10 November 1937, “Ceremonial of the Coronation of Their Majesties [King George VI and his wife Elizabeth, Westminster Abbey, London, 12 May 1937]”, in The London Gazette (Supplement), number 34453, archived from the original on 2014-10-21, page 7031 at 7056
      People who have not had a personal relationship with an LGBT individual are often unaware of the issues facing the community. By being an advocate and supporter of LGBT equality, you are leading by example. Odds are others will follow. 2012 September, “Will People Think I'm Gay?”, in Coming out as a Straight Supporter: A Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans, [United States]: PFLAG; Human Rights Campaign, page 13
   3. (sports) Someone who is a fan of a certain sports team or sportsperson.
      More than 10,000 supporters attended the last match.
      With the Stoke supporters jeering Ziv's every subsequent touch, the pantomime atmosphere created by the home crowd reached a crescendo when Ziv was shown a straight red shortly after the break in extraordinary circumstances. 20 October 2011, Michael da Silva, “Stoke 3 – 0 Macc Tel-Aviv”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2016-03-07
2. Something that supports another thing.
   1. Something that supports a structure such as a building or a sculpture.
      Plane surfaces predominate in this factory. The glass and iron walls are joined cleanly at the corners without the intervention of piers[…]. [Peter] Behrens bounded the glass walls of his famous Turbine Hall right and left with monumental cyclopean walls. These have disappeared with [Walter] Gropius. His walls show that they are no longer supporters of the building, but simple curtains, protection against inclement weather, as Gropius put it. 1967, Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition (Charles Eliot Norton lectures, 1938-1939.), 5th rev. and enl. edition, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, page 482
      [Joseph] Paxton had made this enormous water-plant [Victoria amazonica] to flower for the first time outside its native South American rivers at Chatsworth on 9 November 1848, and with its ‘radiating cantilevers and cross girders’ it had a similar structural principle, he told the Society of Arts, to the ‘longitudinal and transverse girders and supporters’ of the building. 2004, J. R. Piggott, “The ‘Parent Building’: The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park and the Great Exhibition, 1851”, in Palace of the People: The Crystal Palace at Sydenham 1854–1936, London: Hurst & Company, page 6
   2. (heraldry) An animal or figure that supports a shield in a coat of arms.
      […] I am fully perſuaded that there cannot remain a doubt of the uſe of ſupporters having originated from the fancy of ſeal-engravers. Supporters were likewiſe anciently uſed by divers perſons in private life, as appears by their ſeals, who had offices of high dignity in the ſtate, and more eſpecially by thoſe whoſe employments had the title of Lord prefixed to the ſtile; as Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Preſident of the Council, Lord of the Marches of Wales, Lord Warden of the Stanneries, &c. 1780, Joseph Edmondson, [Joseph Ayloffe], “Marshalling”, in A Complete Body of Heraldry: … Glover's Ordinary of Arms, Augmented and Improved; an Alphabet of Arms, Containing upwards of Fifty Thousand Coats, with their Crests, &c. and a Copious Glossary, Explaning All the Technical Terms Used in Heraldry. In Two Volumes. Illustrated with Copper-plates, volume I, London: Printed for the author, by T. Spilsbury, Snowhill; and sold by J[ames] Dodsley, in Pall-Mall; T[homas] Payne and Son, at the Meuse-Gate; J[ames] Robson, in Bond-Street; J[ohn] Walter, Charing-Cross; J. Ridley, in St. James's Street; and R. Faulder, in Bond-Street, →OCLC, page 192
      The Unicorn is the well-known dexter Supporter of England. […] A pair of unicorns also support the shield of the Duke of Rutland. […] A Monster, a compound of a Lion and a Fish, or a Sea-Lion, is known in the fabulous menagerie of Heraldry. Two of these Sea-Lions are Supporters of the Viscount Falmouth. So are the Pegasus[…], the winged Horse of Classic antiquity, the dexter Supporter of the Baron Berwick; […] 1864, Charles Boutell, “Miscellaneous Charges: Part II., Animate Beings”, in Heraldry, Historical and Popular. … With Nine Hundred and Seventy-five Illustrations, 3rd rev. and enl. edition, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, →OCLC, page 68
   3. A garter worn around the leg to support a sock or stocking.
      From the radiator, where he was attaching supporters to his socks, Zooey glanced up at her. 1957, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, “Zooey”, in Franny and Zooey, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, published 1961, ISBN 978-0-316-76954-9; LB Books edition, New York, N.Y.: LB Books, 1991, ISBN 978-0-606-28833-0, page 117
   4. Clipping of athletic supporter.