subaudi

English

Etymology

From the Latin subaudī, the second-person singular present active imperative form of subaudiō (“I understand, I supply a word”), from sub (“under”) + audiō (“I hear, I listen”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aʊdi

Verb

subaudi (imperative only)

1. (obsolete) Mentally supply (something which has not been expressed); scilicet.

   the grass is always greener [subaudi on the other side of the fence] — other circumstances seem more desirable than one’s own, but in reality are often not

   • 1852, Theophylact [pseud.], “Marriage of Ecclesiastics” in Notes and Queries IV:cix, page 428

     That sole remaining sense is, “the bed (let it) be undefiled;” subaudite ἔστω in the verse is, “Let marriage be honourable in all” (men or things), “and the bed be undefiled; but (or for) whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

   • 1905, The Spectator, XCIV, page 355:

     The Czar…expressed his intention to go on fighting for the honour of Russia, “and the command of the waters of the Pacific Ocean, so urgently necessary for the consolidation of the peaceful prosperity not only of Russia, but of other Christian nations” (? subaudite Germany).

Synonyms

• subaudite (used when directing more than one person)

Adverb

subaudi (not comparable)

1. By or relying upon mental suppletion.
   • 1861, Isaac Taylor, The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry, page 54:

     We ought not to say that a scorn of popular favour betrays itself — as if subaudite — in these deliverances of a message from the Almighty; yet it is almost so.

   • 1907, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, page 5:

     By the ‘watchers’ are intended subaudité the guardians of the composer.

Adjective

subaudi (not comparable)

1. Mentally supplied.
   • 1908, Journal of Theological Studies, IX, page 619:

     His aim is to give to the ordinary English reader, who has a reasonable interest in ‘Literature and Life’ — to which in Scotland ‘Philosophy’ is a subaudite third term, always implied and quickly felt — an account of Stoicism.

Related terms

• subaudition

Latin

Verb

subaudī

1. second-person singular present active imperative of subaudiō