[f. as prec. + -ING1.]
1. † a. Enterprise, energy. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IX. 484. Bot he wes outrageous hardy, And of so hye vndirtaking, That he neuir had none abasing Of multitude of men.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 111. Þe Persiens & þe Turkeys … er right coraious men, and of gret vndertakynge.
b. An action, work, etc., undertaken or attempted; an enterprise.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. 3138. Þat þai brocht sone till ending Be sum tressonable vndirtaking.
1598. Florio, Suscettione, an enterprise, a taking of a thing in hand, an vndertaking.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. i. 104. This is the very extasie of Loue, Whose violent property … leads the will to desperate Vndertakings.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 23. He did not upon the Suddain comprehend the consequences, which would naturally attend such a rash undertaking.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 3. Disastrous Periods have ended their Undertakings.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 148. The Farmer is to consider … the Cost and Charges of such a Stock: that so he may suit his Undertaking to his Purse.
1780. S. J. Pratt, Emma Corbett (ed. 4), I. 196. I am engaged in a very unthrifty undertaking.
1809. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 8. In the preceding number I named the present undertaking an experiment.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 383. Not unfit preparatives for such extravagant undertakings.
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, iii. 62. Both sides took a pride in supporting the great literary undertaking which he [sc. Pope] had now announced.
c. The action of taking in hand.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy., III. 185. They, who … are well able to spare that which is required of each one towardes the vndertaking of this aduenture.
1634. W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett., 105. The time of the yeare being as yet somewhat troublesome, for the undertaking thereof, you will rather reserve it.
1640. Bp. Hall, Episc., Ep. Ded. 2. I sate downe, and waited for the undertaking of some abler pen.
d. spec. The business or occupation of a funeral undertaker. Also attrib.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xlvii. So Pen … asked about the undertaking business and how many mutes went down with Lady Estrich’s remains.
1862. Macm. Mag., June, 150. In the way of business … nothing seems stirring, except it be the undertaking trade.
† 2. a. The action of lifting up; support. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. cvii. 9. Myn is Manasses; and Effraym the vndertaking [L. susceptio] of myn hed.
† b. Reproof, rebuke. Obs.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. iv. (1869), 3. Bi whiche cloumben wel swiftliche in to þilke citee þilke þat weren of hise folke,… with oute vndertakinge of any.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 461/2. Snybbynge, or vndyrtakynge, deprehencio.
3. A pledge or promise; a guarantee or surety.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3187. Of this vndyrtakynge ostage are comyne.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., I. v. (1852), 75. All who dare not submit their children to be baptized by the undertaking of god-fathers.
c. 1800. Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1814), 338. ‘Give an Undertaking,’ i. e. a Security.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxiv. Three hundred pounds a year, which he proposed to pay to her on an undertaking that she would never trouble him.
1879. M. Pattison, Milton, 91. In each successive pamphlet he reiterates his undertaking to redeem his pledge of a great work.
