sb. and a. Forms: 2– underling (3–7 vnder-, 4 vndir-); 2 undur-, 4–6 vnderlyng (5 vndir-, vndyr-); 4 undur-, 4–6 underlynge; 3–4 onderling, -lyng. [Early ME., f. UNDER adv. 3 + -LING.]
A. sb. 1. One who is subject or subordinate to another; in later use esp. a subordinate agent or official, an understrapper.
c. 1175. Leg. Nathan, in E. E. Hom. (1917), 89. Heo … ȝet synden underlinges, for þan þe heo heora hlaford helæwden.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 179. Þe riche þe ben louerdinges struien þe wrecche men, þe ben underlinges.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 198. Þet child þet ne buhð nout his eldre; vnderling, his prelat; paroschian, his preost.
c. 1275. Lay., 22472. Alcus hehte þe king: he hadde mani onderlyng.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, III. 176. Þou ne a-nourest god aryȝt, Ac dest is onderlynges.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 128. The sterres … worchen manye sondri thinges To ous, that ben here underlinges.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 2640. My lord,… I am ȝoure knyght and ȝoure vndirlyng.
a. 1470. Harding, Chron., XXXIX. iv. Emman … reigned in all kynde of tiranny, For whiche he was deposed, as an vnderlyng.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., Pref. A iv. What manne … would not rather loke to rule like a lord, then to lyve lyke an underlynge?
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 226. The seruice that an underling … oweth to his Lord … is neither greeuous nor tedious.
1619. W. Sclater, Exp. 1 Thess. (1630), 259. Compare thy selfe with superiours, rather then with vnderlings in Grace.
1693. Apol. Clergy Scot., 102. In the next Paragraph he mentions Mr. Cant, whom he names underling to Mr. Hamilton.
1727. De Foe, Prot. Monast., 9. To hear the Daughter … take up her Father in his Discourse, as if he had been an Idiot or an Underling.
1796. Ld. Sheffield, in Ld. Auckland’s Corr. (1862), III. 357. What chance have we … when the House of Commons is filled with moneyed men, speculators, and underlings in office?
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Napoleon. He undoubtedly felt … an impatience of fools and underlings.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 136. The work of an underling who hoped to secure his own promotion.
transf. 1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, I. III. xii. 153. Epaminondas … gaue vnto Thebes, which had euer-more beene an vnderling,… the highest command in Greece.
b. A branch, plant, etc., growing under, or less strongly than, another; a small or weakly plant, animal, or child. Now dial.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 84/2. The Cyons … are underlings, or small twigs of a years growth.
1787. W. H. Marshall, Norfolk, II. 148. When one of them has got the superiority so far as to overhang the other, it is generally right to take the underling away.
1842. C. W. Johnson, Farmer’s Encycl., 1255. Of the Weeds called Underlings, or such as never rise in the Crop:… These are groundsel [etc.].
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., s.v., The least thriving in a litter of pigs, or brood of chickens, is frequently called ‘a poor little underling.’ Fruit or vegetables smaller than the rest of the crop are called underlings.
2. In predicative use, passing into adj.: Subject, subordinate (to a person, etc.).
1370[?]. Robt. Cisyle, 55. He was to alle men undurlynge, So lowe was never ȝyt no kynge!
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 511/1. Vnderlynge, subditus, infimus.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 187. Þeras he was befor … prowde of hert, aftyr he was lowe and vndyrlyng to al Godys seruantys.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. xi. 30 b. Albeit the husbande be the wiues gouernour, yet is he vnderlyng and subiect to Christe his lorde and maister.
1598. Marston, Sco. Villanie, VIII. Can our Soule Be underling to such a vile controule?
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 187. Lilis … would not be vnderling, and Adam would not endure her his equall.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xlvii. 124. A league of cohabitation should be made between the two Swords, though the spirituall were for the present underling.
b. Similarly in attributive use.
1615–6. Boys, Wks. (1629), 135. The Lord of all submitted himselfe to the gouernment of his supposed father, and vnderling mother.
1657. J. Watts, Vind. Ch. Eng., 265. We underling Shepheards and Pastours may imitate our Paramount Shepheard and Pastour.
1693. Apol. Clergy Scot., 104. The underling Pedlars amongst the Presbyterians may write what they please.
1714. Pope, Lett. (1735), I. 205. There are indeed, a Sort of underling Auxiliars to the Difficulty of a Work, call’d Commentators and Critics.
1764. Foote, Patron, I. By … underling bards, that he feeds; and broken booksellers, that he bribes.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), IV. 577. The underling sort of lawyer whom the judge punishes every day without scruple.
B. adj. 1. Undersized, small, weak. (Cf. UNDERLINE a.)
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 410. The underling hog put up with the rest, is longest a fatting.
1742. Lond. & Country Brewer, III. (ed. 2), 172. Seven Quarters of these underling Kernels.
1788. W. H. Marshall, Yorks., II. 72. [The flax] remains weak, short, and underling.
1840. in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. (1841), II. I. 120. Many short or underling straws, as they are here [sc. Pusey, Berks.] called.
2. Low-growing.
1830. Macgillivray, Withering’s Brit. Plants, II. 548. In gardens and other cultivated lands, it often proves a most troublesome underling weed.
3. Trivial, unimportant.
1804. Southey, in Robberds, Mem. W. Taylor (1843), 481. While they can employ me more to their own advantage in little underling works.
