Subterraneous

a. Now rare. [f. L. subterrāneus (see SUBTERRANE) + -OUS.]

  1.  a. = SUBTERRANEAN a. 1 a.

1607.  J. King, Serm., 5 Nov., 29. They saie to the ground couer vs, and to a subterraneous vault, keep vs close.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. i. 55. Yet are they not to be closed up in the generall name of concretions, or lightly passed over as onely Elementary, and Subterraneous mixtions.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. iv. § 6. Those subterraneous waters which pass up and down through the bowels of the earth.

1667.  Decay Chr. Piety, xii. ¶ 1. There are many subterraneous springs which feed this ocean.

1712.  E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 84. The River … having run subterraneous for two Leagues, rises again.

1725.  Pope, Lett. (1737), VI. 69. In my garden … I have happily finished the subterraneous way and grotto.

1775.  Johnson, West. Isl., 164. Being subterraneous, they must be always damp.

1776.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., ii. I. 45. The subterraneous prisons were abolished.

1813.  Southey, Nelson, II. 28. Lady Hamilton … explored … a subterraneous passage, leading from the palace to the sea side.

1842.  Loudon, Suburban Hort., 227. The sources of cold … are, rain at a lower temperature than the soil,… and where draining has been neglected, subterraneous water.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 332. Let them bring together the streams in subterraneous channels.

1900.  Q. Rev., July, 93. The area of those subterraneous riches is limited.

  b.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 1 b.

1727.  Swift, Wonder Wond., Wks. 1755, II. II. 52. Certain subterraneous nymphs.

1832.  G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 193. The Proteus anguineus—a creature, which is in a manner both subaqueous and subterraneous.

1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & M., 51. The Subterraneous Rustic (Agrotis annexa).

1860.  Smiles, Self-Help, ii. 29. Occupying an underground cellar, over which he put up the sign, ‘Come to the subterraneous barber.’

  c.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 1 c.

1658.  Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., 34. The Stoicks who thought the souls of wise men had their habitation about the Moon, might make slight account of subterraneous deposition.

1664.  Power, Exp. Philos., I. 63. Subterraneous Damps do sometimes … grow to that over-height of fermentation, that they fire of themselves.

a. 1682.  Sir T. Browne, Tracts (1683), 154. There can be no assured decision without an ocular exploration and subterraneous enquiry.

1703.  Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1327. Venomous Steems and Damps … are frequent in Countries that abound with Minerals or Subterraneous Fires.

a. 1774.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 121. The subterraneous thumps of the miner’s spade and pickaxe.

1803–5.  Wordsw., Matron of Jedborough & her Husb., 27. He breathes a subterraneous damp.

1832.  Brewster, Nat. Magic, ix. 240. Camels are … rendered furious when they hear these subterraneous sounds.

1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 49. This matter, in a melted state, has been from time to time agitated, disturbed, and forced out by subterraneous forces.

  d.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 1 d.

1777.  S. Robson, Brit. Flora, 136. Trifolium subterraneum,… Subterraneous Trefoil.

1829.  T. Castle, Introd. Bot., 45. Subterraneous—when they are in the ground, as with the snow-drop and most plants.

1833.  Hooker, in Smith’s Engl. Flora, V. I. 117. Perianth subterraneous oblong fleshy.

  e.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 1 e.

1704.  J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v., Those Trees, which being left there at the Universal Deluge, are so plentifully found buried in the Earth, in many Countries, are called Subterraneous Trees, and by some Fossile-wood.

1712.  Phil. Trans., XXVII. 478. The Subterraneous Trees, uncovered by an Inundation of the River of Thames in Dagenham and Havering Marshes.

1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Mr. Boyle gives us an Instance … of a huge Subterraneous Oak dug out of a Salt Mine in Transylvania.

1830.  Herschel, Study Nat. Phil., 346. The subterraneous ‘Flora’ of a geological formation.

1887.  Cassell s.v., Subterraneous forest.

  f.  (See quot.)

1781.  Ann. Reg., III. 248/2. The application of the principles of ordinary geometry to the working of mines is what the author of this work calls subterraneous geometry.

  2.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 2.

1633.  Prynne, Histrio-m., I. 26. She obtained the subterraneous places of Hell in stead of an inheritance.

1678.  Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. i. § 19. 19. [Pluto’s] Subterraneous Cave. Ibid., iv. § 17. 308. Calling him in the Starry Heaven and Æther, Jupiter; in the Air, Juno; in the Winds, Æolus; in the Sea, Neptune; in the Earth and Subterraneous Parts Pluto.

  3.  = SUBTERRANEAN a. 3.

1660.  R. Burney, Κέρδ. Δῶρον, 130. All other leagues and combinations are subterraneous, when they either trust to or fear the Arm of flesh.

1682.  2nd Plea Nonconf., 44. It was as cunning a subterraneous Conveyance for Popery, as could be thought of.

1735.  H. Walpole, Lett., 9 Sept., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 259. These dark & subterraneous negociations w^th y^e promise of secrecy in all events. Ibid. (1759), Mem. Geo. II. (1847), III. vii. 176. He might have discovered some of Legge’s subterraneous intrigues.

1856.  De Quincey, Confess., Pref. Notice. So obstinately has this malady pursued its noiseless, and what I may call subterraneous, siege.