originating in the coalescence of the preposition UNDER with a following noun, the compound being then usually employed as an adj. or adv., as UNDERFOOT, -GROUND, -HAND, -STAIRS, -WATER. In attributive use these compounds have the stress on the prefix.
Purely adjectival formations, as under celestial (Florio), -natural (1642), -proficient (1703), are rare. An unusual type occurs in UNDERGRADUATE.
1892. Daily News, 1 Feb., 2/3. The Indian season being … dull in consequence of *under-average grain crops.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 288/2. It is obvious that … an *‘under-cover show’ has … manifest advantages over an exposed one.
1899. Kipling, Stalky, 83. By some accident of *under-floor drafts.
1886. Pall Mall G., 24 Aug., 4/2. The substitution for the old *under-guard lever of the ‘snap,’ or spring action for opening the breech.
1876. T. Hardy, Ethelberta, ii. Everything turned upon whether the postmaster at the moment of asking would be in his *under-government manner, or in the manner with which mere nature had endowed him.
1887. Meredith, Ballads & P., 149. Some *undermountain narrative he tells.
1894. Daily News, 3 Sept., 4/1. The work of real difficulty is … the *under-river portion of the tunnel.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 301. A bridge across an *under-swamp river.
