prefix, repr. L. subter- = the adv. and prep. subter below, underneath, used in composition = (1) below, beneath; (a) advb. as in subterfluĕre to flow beneath (see SUBTERFLUOUS). (b) prep. as in subtercutāneus lying under the skin (cutis); (2) secretly, as in subterfugĕre to flee secretly (see SUBTERFUGE); and, in some rare Eng. compounds, = (3) lower or less than (cf. SUB- 14). The following are instances either of little-used adoptions of L. compounds or mere nonce-words (in some cases suggested by antithesis to compounds of super-).
Subterannuating vbl. sb., the placing of an event later than its actual date. Subter-brutish a., lower than (that of) the brutes. Subter-celestial a., below the heavens. Subter-conscious a., = SUBCONSCIOUS. † Subtercubant [L. cubāre to lie down] (meaning unknown). Subtercutaneous [L. -eus], = SUBCUTANEOUS. Subterduction [cf. L. subterdūcĕre], a carrying away secretly. Subtererogation, the performance of less than is required. Subteretherial a., subaerial. † Subterfluent, † Subterfluous adjs., flowing underneath. Subterhuman a., below what is human. Subterjacent a. [L. subterjacēre], underlying, subjacent. Subterlapsarian [properly *subtersublapsarian] a., pertaining to a view of redemption that conceived a sufficiency of grace for all, but a positive decree to save restricted to some. Subtermarine, one who works under the sea. Subtersensual, -sensuous adjs., = SUBSENSUAL, -SENSUOUS. Subtersuperlative, a degree lower than that expressed by an ordinary superlative of inferiority. Subtersurface a., lying below the surface, subsurface.
1656. Heylin, Extraneus Vapulans, 102. The superannuating in the business of the Councel of Dort, (a *subterannuating call’d in the true sense of the thing).
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. viii. O *subter-brutish! vile! most vile!
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 253. By the Fiat of the Almighty the *subter-celestial Waters were separated from the super-celestial.
1856. Bagehot, Biogr. Studies (1880), 15. There is a kind of eruption of ideas from a *subter-conscious world.
1597. Harvey, Trimming of Nashe, Wks. (Grosart), III. 69. The … grand Commander of all the superrants & subtercubants of Englands great Metropolis.
1748. trans. Vegetius Renatus’ Distemper of Horses, 9. There are seven Species of this Maul: The moist, the dry, the *subtercutaneous, the articular [etc.].
1656. Blount, Glossogr., *Subterduction, a private stealing or leading away.
1617. Collins, Def. Bp. Ely, II. ix. 346. It is certains that Supererogation there can be none, though praetererogation we should graunt you, howbeit *subtererogation were the fitter word.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, III. iii. 456. The *Subter-Ætherial Globe.
1755. Johnson, *Subterfluent, running under.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., *Subterfluous, which runs or flows under.
1833. Carlyle, Misc. Ess., Cagliostro (1888), 88. He were no man but some other kind of creature, superhuman or *subterhuman.
1839. J. Sterling, Ess., etc. (1848), I. 264. The universe presents itself to them as a conflux of forces, subterhuman, human, and superhuman.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 25/2. As then not parte of the corrosive fall on any of the *subteriacent partes.
1762. trans. Busching’s Syst. Geog., III. 29. A delightful prospect over the subterjacent plain.
1893. Fairbairn, Christ in Mod. Theol., I. viii. 173. The *Subterlapsarian School, which had hypothetical universalism as its note.
1891. Meredith, One of our Conq., xxvi. A diver’s wreck, where an armoured livid *subtermarine, a monstrous puff-ball of man, wandered seriously light in heaviness. Ibid. (1885), Diana, III. xii. 219. To pursue the thing would be to enter the *subtersensual perfumed caverns of a Romance of Fashionable Life.
1878. P. W. Wyatt, Hardrada, 43. Sailing on one vast *subtersensuous greed Their smuggling life-craft ply.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VI. 271. The Apostles words of himself, who am lesse than the least of all saints…. As I may say, a *subter-subterlative [sic] in his humility. Ibid. (1659), App. Inj. Innoc., III. 18. Because he was Ελαχισ[τ]ότερος, (and if there be a more subter-superlative) the least of the least of his brethren.
1831. Fraser’s Mag., IV. 322. He never fails to sink to the *subtersurface level of Joseph Hume.
