a. Without thunder or noise. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An assistant or subordinate laborer. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Laid or placed underneath; also, having something laid or lying underneath. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. underlecgan. See Under, and Lay, v. t. ] 1. To lay beneath; to put under. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To raise or support by something laid under; as, to underlay a cut, plate, or the like, for printing. See Underlay, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To put a tap on (a shoe). [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Mining) The inclination of a vein, fault, or lode from the vertical; a hade; -- called also underlie. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Print.) A thickness of paper, pasteboard, or the like, placed under a cut, or stereotype plate, or under type, in the form, to bring it, or any part of it, to the proper height; also, something placed back of a part of the tympan, so as to secure the right impression. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. (Mining) To incline from the vertical; to hade; -- said of a vein, fault, or lode. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, underlays or is underlaid; a lower layer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) A perpendicular shaft sunk to cut the lode at any required depth. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A prolific sort of apple, good for cider. [ Obs. ] Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) A lease granted by a tenant or lessee; especially, a lease granted by one who is himself a lessee for years, for any fewer or less number of years than he himself holds; a sublease. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To let below the value. [ 1913 Webster ]

All my farms were underlet. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To let or lease at second hand; to sublet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tenant or lessee who grants a lease to another. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To lie below or under. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. underlicgan. See Under, and Lie to be prostrate. ] 1. To lie under; to rest beneath; to be situated under; as, a stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be at the basis of; to form the foundation of; to support; as, a doctrine underlying a theory. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be subject or amenable to. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The knight of Ivanhoe . . . underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Underlay, n., 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To mark a line below, as words; to underscore. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To influence secretly. [ Obs. ] Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Emphasize or call attention to; highlight; as, Long waits at the emergency room underline the need for a larger hospital. . [ JG ]

n. [ Under + -ling. ] 1. An inferior person or agent; a subordinate; a low-ranking employee. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, A mean, sorry fellow. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The lower lip. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. to load (a truck, etc.) with less than its full capacity; -- in certain circumstances, an inefficient use of resources. [ PJC ]

. (Elec.) A motor starter provided with an underload switch. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Elec.) A switch which opens a circuit when the current falls below a certain predetermined value, used to protect certain types of motors from running at excessive speed upon decrease of load. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A lock of wool hanging under the belly of a sheep. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mining) A person who inspects a mine daily; -- called also underviewer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Lying under or beneath; as, the underlying strata of a locality. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Fundamental; basic; as, underlying principles; underlying causes. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

3. Implicit; not immediately obvious; requiring careful scrutiny to discover; as, the underlying sarcasm in her seemingly innocuous remark.. [ PJC ]