Beneath

adv. and prep. Forms: 1 beniþan, -neoðan, -nyðan, 2–3 bi-neoðen, -neoþen, -neðen, noþen, (Orm.) -neþenn, 3 bi-neoðe, -neoþe, -neðe, 3–4 bi-neþe(n, 4 -nethen, byneþen, -neathe, be-nyþe, 4–5 by-nethen, -neþe, beneþe, 4–6 bynethe, 5 byneithe, bineth, 5–6 by-, beneth(e, 5– beneath; 8– ’neath. [OE. biniðan, be-neoðan, f. bi- BE- + niðan, neoðan ‘below, down,’ orig. ‘from below,’ earlier neoðane, neoðone, = OS. nithana, OHG. nidana, MHG. niden(e, mod.G. nieden, f. OTeut. niþar ‘lower, farther down, down’: see NETHER + advb. ending -ana, originally expressing motion ‘from.’ The be- gave or emphasized the notion of ‘where,’ excluding that of ‘whence’ pertaining to the simple niðan. The modern ’neath is abbreviated from beneath. Originally an adverb, but already in OE. construed with dative (of reference), as a prep.]

  A.  adv.

  1.  gen. In a low position relatively to some other place; in a lower position; low or lower down; downward; = BELOW adv. 1.

c. 1205.  Lay., 25610. Ofte wes þe drake buuen: And eft seoððen bineoþen.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 390. Brod ase scheld buuen … and neruh bineoðen.

c. 1305.  St. Kenelm, 127, in E. E. P. (1862), 51. On of his beste freond … In þe grounde stod byneþe.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XIII. 5529. A mon fro þe myddell vp, And fro the nauyll by-neithe, vne an abill horse.

1413.  Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, IV. xxxiv. (1483), 82. As well of tho that ben bynethen as tho that ben aboue.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. iv. 78. And hears it [the sea] roar beneath. Ibid. (1605), Lear, IV. vi. 128. To the Girdle do the Gods inherit, beneath is all the Fiends.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, III. 298. Pure water in a font beneath reflects The many-colour’d rays.

  † b.  Lower on a written or printed page; = BELOW adv. 1 b. Obs.

854.  Chart. Ethelwulf, in Cod. Dipl., V. 106. Ðara naman her beneoðan awritene standað.

1668.  Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xxvii. 64. Of which see other Anatomists … and my father Bartholinus beneath.

  2.  With reference to certain understood points:

  † a.  Beneath the skies; in the world, on the earth. Obs. or arch.; expressed by BELOW adv. 2 a.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 9. Ðan sal him almightin luuen Her bineðen and … abuuen.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5055. We synful … bynethe on þe erthe.

1382.  Wyclif, Ex. xx. 4. In heuene aboue, and … in erthe benethe [so in 1611].

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. 183. Say youre prayers here by nethe.

1536.  Tindale, John viii. 23. Ye are from beneth; I am from above.

[1875.  Browning, Aristoph. Apol., 106. Our world beneath Shows … grimly gross.]

  b.  Beneath the earth; in Hades, in hell.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5408. Helle bynethen … Sal þan be open.

1611.  Bible, Isa. xiv. 9. Hell from beneath is mooued for thee.

a. 1736.  Yalden, On Milton’s Pr. Wks., 7 (J.).

  3.  Directly below; underneath.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 4082. Hise hore bi-neðe and him abuuen.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1681. Þu sal bi-neþen on þe side Mak a dor wit mesur wide.

1517.  Torkington, Pilgr. (1884), 43. Whiche Ryft … appereth by nethe.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 186. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 43. High o’er the Gate … The Crowd shall Cæsar’s Indian War behold: The Nile shall flow beneath.

1873.  Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 1639. Shaggy eyebrows elevate With twinkling apprehension in each orb Beneath.

  b.  Under some covering or surface, underneath; underground, under the earth.

1297.  R. Glouc., 131. Lat delue vnder þe fundement, & þou schalt bineþe fynde A waterpol.

1388.  Wyclif, Job xviii. 16. The rootis of hym be maad drie bynethe.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, V. 1609. The water … clensit by ocurse all þe clene Cite Of filth and of feum, throughe fletyng by nethe.

1611.  Bible, Jer. xxxi. 37. If … the foundations of the earth [can be] searched out beneath.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 466. Spread with Straw, the bedding of thy Fold; With Fern beneath.

  4.  Lower down on a slope, or in the course of a river. rare. Now BELOW adv. 3.

1393.  Gower, Conf., II. 161. On the mount of Parasie … And eke beneth in the valey.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, II. 62. The stopping of the waters [of Jordan] above must necessarily command their defection beneath.

  5.  Down or lower in fortune, station, dignity, rank or quality. arch.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. xxviii. 13. Þu bist æfre bufan and na beniþan.

c. 1205.  Lay., 9839. Ȝif mi cun clembeð & bineoðen þe ibringeð.

1297.  R. Glouc., 258. An batayle at Elendone hii smyte … Þe Kyng Bernulf was þere byneþe, & bynome al ys bost.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 53. Þe pope, cardinalis, bischopis, & oþer prelats be neþe, are disciplis of anticrist.

1535.  Coverdale, Deut. xxviii. 13. Thou shalt be aboue onely, and not benethe [Wyclif, vndur; 1611 beneath].

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 13. That next [is disdain’d] by him beneath.

  B.  (with object expressed) prep.

  The prepositional use of beneath seems originally to have been introduced to express the general notion of ‘lower than,’ as distinguished from the specific sense of UNDER. But in process of time beneath was so largely used for under, that BELOW was laid hold of to express the more general idea. In ordinary spoken English, under and below now cover the whole field (below tending naturally to overlap the territory of under), leaving beneath more or less as a literary and slightly archaic equivalent of both (in some senses), but especially of under. The only senses in which beneath is preferred are 7 (‘beneath contempt’), and fig. uses of 4 (e.g., ‘to fall beneath the assaults of temptation’)

  † 1.  gen. In a position down from or lower than. Obs. or arch. Now expressed by BELOW prep. 1. † Beneath stair: = below stairs.

a. 900.  Pol. Laws Ælfred, § 63, in Thorpe I. 96. Gif se sconcá biþ þyrel beneoðan cnéowe.

c. 1205.  Lay., 14985. Heo bar bineoðen hire titten ane guldene ampulle.

c. 1305.  St. Edm. Conf., 164, in E. E. P. (1862), 75. He was byneþe his brech igurd faste ynouȝ.

c. 1391.  Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 25. By-nethe the Orisonte.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 27. For all beneath the Moone would I not leape upright.

1631.  T. Powell, Tom All Trades, 168. The chiefest hand in preferring to any office beneath stayer.

  2.  Directly down from, overhung or surmounted by; under, underneath.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, in Lamb. Hom., 87. He is buuen us and binoþen . biforen and bihinden.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 304. Bineoðen us … þe wide þreote of helle.

a. 1520.  Myrr. Our Ladye, 119. Aboue vs, bynethe vs.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 180. You’le be found, Be you beneath the Sky.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 737. Lands that lye beneath another Sun.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 13. The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade.

1821.  Keats, Isabel, i. They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep.

1832.  Tennyson, Audley Crt., 78. We … saunter’d home beneath a moon … In crescent.

  b.  At the base or foot of (a wall, cliff, etc.).

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (1865), I. 209. Hercules, Italus his sone, bulde a citee … by neþe þe Capitol.

1535.  Coverdale, Ex. xxxii. 19. [He] brake them beneth [Wyclif, at the rotes of] the mount.

1808.  Scott, Marm., I. iii. Beneath the sable palisade … His bugle horn he blew.

1870.  R. Anderson, Missions Amer. Board, II. viii. 61. In a frail canoe beneath a tall cliff overhanging the sea.

  3.  Immediately under, in contact with the under side of; covered by; under, underneath.

1611.  Bible, Deut. v. 8. The waters beneath the earth.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 60. In Chambers of their own, beneath the Ground.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, I. 651. One hand she placed Beneath his beard. Ibid. (a. 1744), Epitaph Rowe, 3. Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies.

1726.  Dyer, Grongar Hill, 22. So oft I have … Sat … With my hand beneath my head.

1831.  R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 309. The axilla is the angle or cavity that lies beneath the junction of the arm with the shoulder.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. i. 275. The brown red grass Rustling beneath your feet.

1854.  Mrs. Jameson, Bk. of Th. (1877), 34. No wise man kicks the ladder from beneath him.

  b.  Hence: Farther from (the surface); covered or concealed by; inside of, behind. More commonly UNDER.

1727.  Thomson, Summer, 753. Thou art no Ruffian, who beneath the mask Of social commerce comest to rob their wealth.

1863.  E. V. Neale, Anal. Th. & Nat., 192. Beneath the movement of self-assertion appears the repose of self-government.

1871.  Haweis, Mus. & Mor. (1874), 7. The Musician’s art lies beneath the surface.

1882.  Stanley, Chr. Instit., viii. 156. A woollen vest, which sometimes had beneath it another fitting close to the skin.

  4.  ‘Under, as overborne or overwhelmed by some pressure’ (J.); often fig. subject to, under subjection to, under the influence, action or control of.

1297.  R. Glouc., 491. There he broȝte al binethe hom that were is fon.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 39. Our Country sinkes beneath the yoake.

1660.  Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 216/2. The comprehension made by the Senses … omits nothing that can fall beneath it.

1719.  Young, Busiris, I. i. (1757), 10. Elephants … Bending beneath a weight of luxury.

1792.  Munchausen’s Trav. (1819), 144. Know then, proud knight, that thou shalt instant perish ’neath my potent arm.

1795.  Southey, Joan of Arc, IV. 402. Thou shouldst set forth Beneath another’s guidance.

1800.  Bloomfield, Farmer’s B., Spring, 221. Brisk goes the work beneath each busy hand.

1885.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 43. The carved work mouldered fast ’Neath the suns, and the frosts.

  † 5.  Lower on a slope, in a valley, etc., than; = BELOW prep. 2. Obs.

1551.  Turner, Herbal (1568), 53. I went by the Rhene side iiij miles beneth Bingen.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 355. Her barbarous sons … spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.

1691.  T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 68. Obstructions in all Navigable Rivers beneath the first Bridges.

1704.  Hearne, Duct. Hist., I. 430. A Quarter of a Mile beneath the Village … is the fallen Ruines of the Tower of Babel.

  6.  fig. Lower in the scale of being, station, rank, excellence or dignity. Now commonly BELOW.

a. 1000.  Metr. Boeth., xx. 444. Hio biþ swiðe fior hire selfre beneoðan.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 10729. To settenn þe Bineþenn þine lahȝhre.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., II. v. 49. It is brouȝt byneþen all bestes.

c. 1375.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. 1869, I. 15. Creatures bineþe men.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. i. 11. Not beneath him in Fortunes.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 115. That were an ignominy … beneath This downfall.

1711.  Addison, Spec., No. 162, ¶ 4. Beings above and beneath us have probably no Opinions at all.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 421. Beneath them lay a large class which could not subsist without some aid from the parish.

  7.  Unbefitting the dignity of; unworthy of, unbeseeming, undeserving of; lowering to.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxvi. § 5. Nis nán wuht benyðan him [i.e., beneath his notice].

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Pseudo-Freris, vi. (1880), 310. Talis byneþe bileeue.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 332. So farre beneath your soft and tender breeding.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 53, ¶ 10. We do not esteem it beneath us to return you our Royal thanks.

1767.  Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom., I. vi. 227. No woman … ought to think it beneath her to be an œconomist.

1871.  Haweis, Mus. & Mor., 499. Beneath the attention of serious critics.

1883.  Times, 23 Oct., 9/3. Their [the Jews’] well-known qualities of patience, insight, and mutual fidelity, and their habit of thinking nothing beneath the notice of a man of business, have given them success.

  b.  Lower than (any standard of quantity or quality). Better expressed by BELOW.

1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, i. § 10. We are none of us so good architects as to be able to work habitually beneath our strength.

1850.  McCosh, Div. Govt., II. i. (1874), 135. The copies ever fall beneath the original.

  † C.  quasi-adj. Obs. rare.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, I. i. 43. A man Whom this beneath world doth embrace.

  D.  Comb. † beneath-forth, out from beneath; beneath. Obs.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xlvii. (1495), 259. A stronge colde in the mouthe of the stomak … is cause of out puttynge bineth forthe.

c. 1410.  Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xxvi. 56. Thyng þat longeth to þe worlde … here byneth forthe.

c. 1467.  Ord. Worcester, in E. E. Gilds, 373. In one of the Chambers benethforth.