1. sb. A low subdued tone; a whisper.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Rime Duchess May, III. x. I said in underbreath,—All our life is mixed with death.
1884. H. R. Haweis, Musical Life, 175. All the point was taken out of it [a story] because I had to hurry over it and end in a guilty kind of underbreath.
b. Whispered rumor.
1880. Meredith, Tragic Com., ii. She heard things related of Alvan by the underbreath.
2. adj. Low-toned, whispered.
1853. H. Lushington, Italian War (1859), 299. Rather extravagant in his liberalism, and given to underbreath confessions of conspiracy.
1874. Aylward, in Manning, Ess. Relig. & Lit., III. 106. The audience was greatly excited, and under-breath communications were made.
3. adv. In an undertone or whisper.
1865. Swinburne, Chastelard, V. i. 177. Small broken oaths … And underbreath some praise of Ashtaroth Sighed laughingly.
