[OE. underlicgan (f. UNDER-1 4 a + licgan LIE v.1), = MDu. and Du. onderliggen, MHG. underligen, G. unterliegen, MSw. undirliggia, Da. underligge.]
† 1. trans. To be subject or subordinate to (a person or thing); to submit to or be controlled by.
Also (quot. 1382) const. to in place of earlier dative.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past C., xxviii. 189. Ða underðieddan mon sceal læran … ðæt hi him [sc. their superiors] eaðmodlice underlicgen.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, i. 155. Heo [sc. the soul] bið atelic þurh leahtras ʓif he him underlið.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvii. (Machor), 807. Mony printeise þat redy were Til vndirly his dyscypline.
1382. Wyclif, Heb. xiii. 17. Obeye ȝe to ȝoure prouostis, or prelatis, and vndir-ligge [L. subjacete] to hem.
a. 1500. in Ratis Raving, etc., 16. All elyk wnder-lyis vanite, and drawis till a law place downwart.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 205. The king … condiscendit to thir desiris; sa the said Donald come … at Dounstafage to underly his will.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 92. But mongst our selues, … [I say] That others vnderly you, [who] safely might Cull out some ten to patronize her right.
2. To submit or be subjected to; to have (or allow to be) imposed on one; to undergo or suffer under: a. a punishment, penalty, accusation, etc.
Very common in older Sc. use: cf. next. Also (quot. 1382) const. to in place of dative.
c. 960. Rule St. Benet, xxxii. 56. ʓif he betan nele, underlicgge he rihtlicre þreale.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6691. Qun smites his thain wit a wand,… If he liue ouer a dai or tuin, Þe lauerd sal vnderli na pain. Ibid., 22206. Þan sal all þaa … underli sa waful wrake.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxi. 31. The sone forsothe and the douȝter if it smyte with horn, to the lijk sentence he shal vnderligge.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 19. Þus it semiþ al onli in effect an heretik schuld vnderly þe curse of þe kirk.
1442. Reg. Mag. Sig., 64/1. Till underly the charge of ath breking.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S. T. S.), 275. Sa that … the accusour be oblist to underly the payne of talyoun.
1540. Rec. Elgin (1903), I. 52. [He] is content to vnderlie the sentence of the bailzeis.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., Answ. Let. They that would rather vnderly the reproche of obscuritie, than ouercharge their mediocritie.
1612. J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 66/2. Praying for patience still to vnder-ly The heauie waight of this Worlds iniurie.
1678. Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., I. xxi. § 4 (1699), 112. [He] shall incur and underly the pain and punishment of death.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxvii. This defiance hath already been sent to thee by thy sewer; thou underliest it, and art bound to answer me.
1857. J. W. Donaldson, Chr. Orthod., 259. He underlies also the graver charge of intentional misrepresentation.
1882. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, I. xv. 254. Since my last visit to the Russian lines I had underlain a ban.
b. Sc. the law. (Common 16–17th c.)
1453. Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 403. To ansueir and underlie the law.
1507. Reg. Privy Seal Scotl., 205/2. To underly the law for the said slauchter.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 51. To underly the law for sic crymes.
1678. Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., I. xi. § 16 (1699), 67. His Forefaulture could not fall to the King, upon a simple Denunciation for not appearing to underly the Law.
1752. J. Louthian, Form of Process (ed. 2), 37. There to underly the Law for the Crime foresaid.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., 489. To appear and underlie the law.
† c. Sc. (and north.) a charge or burden. Obs.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (Verse), 1012. Who salbe meke,… Bus hald þam-self vile & worthy Al maners of charch to vnderly.
1473. Reg. Cupar Abbey, I. 183. Tha sal gane to the monk myre of Coupergrange, and thar tak thar feuale, vndyrlyand al chargis of the wenyng of the myre. Ibid. (1475), 203. He sal ondyrly and kep our conyngar fra all scath and peryl.
1565. in Hay Fleming, Mary Q. of Scots (1897), 495. He onderlyis charge and expensis for the keping of the said Castell.
1622. Bruce, in Serm., etc. (1843), 131. To show … how unable I am to undertake and underly such a journey and charge.
3. To lie under or beneath; to subtend.
Esp. in Geol. of strata lying under others.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VIII. i. § 2. In a figure triangle … the self same Line is both a Base and also a Side;… a Base if it chance to be the bottom and underly the rest.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 398. These deep-seated igneous formations must underlie all the strata containing organic remains.
1861. L. L. Noble, Icebergs, 139. The dark-blue inland hills and brown headlands underlie a sky of unutterable beauty.
1881. Nature, XXIV. 22 Sept., 497/2. They [limestones] must be everywhere underlain by the the whole of the productive Middle Coal Measures.
b. fig. To form a basis or foundation to; to exist beneath the surface-aspect of.
In common use from c. 1860.
1856. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), II. 13. Let the details go for what they are worth; the idea, the spirit which underlies them, is still invaluable.
1866. J. Martineau, Ess., I. 46. Must a false postulate underlie the whole fabric?
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, x. 308. Theocritus … fully felt the charm which underlies the facts of rustic life.
† 4. intr. To lie below ground; to be buried.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Death of Sparrow. She … for this dead which under-lies, Wept out her heart.
1739. in J. O. Payne, Rec. Eng. Cath. (1889), 54. Here underlyes William Plowden honourably and very anciently descended.
5. Mining. = UNDERLAY v. 5.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 80. Some Fissures do not alter much from a perpendicular; and some do underlie a fathom in a fathom.
1800. Ann. Reg., Chron., 436. It dips or underlies south, one foot in a fathom.
1855. [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall Mines 100. Instances … in which veins of almost every description dip or underlie in almost every direction.
1899. Daily News, 3 Nov., 2/6. The vein underlies west 10 degrees from the vertical.
