supporter

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun One that supports, as a structural member of a building.
• noun One who promotes or advocates; an adherent.
• noun An athletic supporter.
• noun Heraldry An animal or figure that supports a shield in a coat of arms.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun An appliance which gives support to any part of the body, as the breasts or abdominal viscera.
• noun One who supports or maintains.
• noun An adherent; a partizan: as, a supporter of a candidate or of a faction.
• noun One who accompanies a leader on some public occasion.
• noun A sustainer; a comforter.
• noun That which supports or upholds; that on which anything rests; a support; a prop.
• noun Specifically— In ship-building, a knee placed under the cat-head; also, same as bibb.
• noun In heraldry, the representation of a living creature accompanying the escutcheon and either holding it up or standing beside it as if to keep or guard it. In modern times supporters are usually two for each escutcheon, and are more commonly in pairs, the two of each pair being either exactly alike or simply reversed; it often happens, however, that they are quite different, as the Indian and sailor supporting the shield of New York, or the lion and unicorn supporting the royal shield of Great Britain. In medieval decorative art there was often one supporter, as an angel, who actually held the shield, standing behind it.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who, or that which, supports.
• noun Especially, an adherent; one who sustains, advocates, and defends.
• noun (Shipbuilding) A knee placed under the cathead.
• noun (Her.) A figure, sometimes of a man, but commonly of some animal, placed on either side of an escutcheon, and exterior to it. Usually, both supporters of an escutcheon are similar figures.
• noun (Med.) A broad band or truss for supporting the abdomen or some other part or organ.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Something that supports a structure such as a building.
• noun A person who supports, promotes, advocates or champions a cause or movement; an adherent.
• noun heraldry An animal or figure that supports a shield in a coat of arms.
• noun A garter worn around the leg to support a sock or stocking
• noun sports Someone who is a fan of a certain team or sportsperson.
• noun sports Someone who attends a sports match.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a band (usually elastic) worn around the leg to hold up a stocking (or around the arm to hold up a sleeve)
• noun a support for the genitals worn by men engaging in strenuous exercise
• noun a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
• noun someone who supports or champions something
• noun a person who backs a politician or a team etc.