[f. UNDER- prefix1, detached from componnds on the analogy of OVER a.
There is no clear distinction between the prefix and the adj. when immediately preceding a noun, beyond the writing of the latter as a separate word.]
1. Having a lower or underlying place or position; lying beneath or at a lower level: a. Of places, their contents or inhabitants.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 541. Þe ouer fir gis man his sight, Þat ouer air of hering might: Þis vnder wynd him gis his aand.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 222. He first remoued his lodging … to a base vnder roome.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIX. 2. The Morne arose, and … Gaue light to all, As well to gods, as men of th’ vnder globe.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., II. 19. The Sunne had imparted his brighinesse to our vnder neighbours.
1874. Swinburne, Bothwell, IV. i. For look where yonder … Comes up to usward from the under field One with a flag of message.
1897. Daily News, 15 Oct., 5/2. He took to the water, disappeared, leaving it on the low under bank of the stream.
b. Of things (esp. one of a pair).
1648. [see SUB- 10].
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. iii. 7. The Wyre at the under end at D.
1704. Dict. Rust. (1726), s.v. Cart, The under pieces which keep the bottom of the Cart together.
1723. Chambers, trans. Le Clerc’s Treat. Archit., I. 89. The upper Order must always be less Massive than the under.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., II. v. 91. Those [adults] whose upper and under row of teeth are equally prominent.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 765. The upper stopcock is closed, and the under is opened to run off the liquor.
1859. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 675. At this he turn’d all red…, Now gnaw’d his under, now his upper lip.
2. a. Lying under (so as to be covered).
1547. in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 12. Twoo vnder ffrockes without sleves.
1611. Bible, 2 Esdras xii. 19. The eight small vnder feathers sticking to her wings.
1611. Florio, Sottocoperta, an vnder couerlet.
1746. Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.), 30. That wan tha liv’st up to tha Cot, tha wart the Old Rager Hill’s Under Bed-blonket.
1819. S. Butler, in Life & Lett. (1896), I. 164. One under and one good upper blanket.
1872. [see UNDER-GARMENT].
b. Facing downwards.
1731. P. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Leaves, The upper and under Surfaces of the two Leaves.
1738. [see UNDERSIDE β].
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 999. The under face of the licker-up is made rough like a rasp.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 267. This lever is sunk into the under surface or D.
c. Of sound: Low, subdued.
1806. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Tristia, Wks. 1812, V. 319. Tones in the Minor Key, so sweet, so under.
1834. Wordsw., Lines in Album of C’tess Lonsdale, 33. Those self-solacing, those under, notes Trilled by the redbreast.
3. Inferior, subordinate; of lower rank or position.
1580. Brief Disc. why Cath. refuse to goe to Ch., 41 b. For that they haue not receaued the vnder Orders, which they should haue done before Preisthoode.
1611. Cotgr., Soubzacazement, a dead Fief, rent secke, mesne, or vnder rent.
1693. Humours Town, 86. The under classes of them, Attorneys, Sollicitors, and Pettifoggers.
1727. Pope, etc., Art of Sinking, 120. For the under characters, gather them from Homer and Virgil, and change the names as occasion serves.
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T., Under dubber, a turnkey.
1890. R. C. Lehmann, H. Fludyer, 33. The poor dear servants … going in batches to the pantomime—at least, the under ones.
4. Below the proper standard, amount, etc.; defective, insufficient.
1673. Essex Papers (Camden), 103. Getting a long Lease of it at an under rent from ye Citty.
1710. Palmer, Proverbs, 294. Men … rarely fail of over-measure in the return of an injury, and under in the acknowledgment of a kindness.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 258. ’Tis best to begin rather with an under than over Dose.
1817. Keatinge, Trav., I. 9. Flat tracts of hungry pasture ground in under proportion to the tillage.
