sb. Also under-tone, under tone. [UNDER-1 5 c, 9, 9 b, 10 c.]
1. A low or subdued tone: a. of utterance.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., II. 44. ‘’Tis very strange!’ said Edward in an under tone of voice.
1819. Keats, Lamia, II. 281. ‘Fool!’ said the sophist, in an under-tone, Gruff with contempt.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, xv. All this was uttered rapidly, and in a wheedling undertone.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 79. Hearing a low, monotonous … voice chanting a dirge in an undertone.
b. of sound. Also attrib.
1833. [see UNBLISSFUL a.].
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., vii. (1856), 52. With it came a strange undertone accompaniment, a not discordant drone.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxiii. If beyond the silence we listen for the faintest undertones, we detect a stifled, continuous hum of insects.
2. fig. a. An underlying tone (of feeling, etc.); a subordinate or unobtrusive element; an undercurrent.
1861. Tulloch, Eng. Purit., II. 211. The undertone of sentiment in the Elizabethan Church.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, II. 180. Throughout all these high reasonings … there runs an undertone of controversy.
b. A subdued or underlying tone of color.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., There was a subtle undertone of yellow through the picture.
c. The general basis of Exchange or market dealings in any stock or commodity.
1897. Daily News, 2 Feb., 3/7. Stocks were irregular… The undertone was firm.
1902. Times, 29 July, 11/2. Maize has had a weak undertone during the entire session.
3. A tone (of health, etc.) below the normal.
1872. H. W. Beecher, Yale Lect. Preaching, viii. 220. I have sometimes had a whole month of undertone, because I let go and ran clear down.
Hence Undertone v. trans. to accompany as an undertone; Undertoned ppl. a.1, expressed in an undertone.
1861. Meredith, Evan Harrington, xxx. His hasty undertoned questions.
1873. W. S. Mayo, Never Again, xi. 145. Low harmonics Undertone the music’s roll.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., VII. lvi. She uttered this with the same undertoned decision.
