understrapping (under strap"ing)

Subordinate; subservient. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, VI. xviii. understratum (un'der-strā"tum), n.; pl. under strata (-tä). A substratum; an underlying stratum; the stratum lying immediately beneath, or forming the lower portion of the one designated: not often used except figuratively. There is a vast and virtuous understratum in society, which really loves the right and hates the wrong. Nineteenth Century , XX. 421. 2. To interpret the signification of; seize the idea of; comprehend as resulting from a thought, principle, or rule; explain. I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. Gen. xli. 15. Can any understand the spreading of the clouds or the noise of his tabernacle? Job xxxvi. 29. 3. To receive information about; learn by paying heed to what is said and done; consider. Zee schulle undirstonde that, aftre the opynyoun of olde wise Philosophres and A str ono meres, oure Contree ne Irelond ne Wales ne Scotlond ne Norweye ne the other Yles costynge to hem ne ben not in the superficyalte cownted aboven the Erthe. Mandeville , Travels, p. 186. I haue understande , And by neighbours knowe, That largely ye haue children good and fin. Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L. 72. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge. Isa, xxxii. 4. I hope to hear from you soon, for I long to understand how you fare. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 416. Understand the matter, and consider the vision. Dan. ix. 23. 4. To know in substance, as a fact or saying; be acquainted with; recognize. This knowen, that his hestes under stond eth , How that the second heste of God is that. Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale. IMG:content-1328.png:[blocks in formation] Isa. xi. 2. The power of perception is that which we call the un der standing. Perception, which we make the act of the understanding, is of three sorts: 1. The perception of ideas in our mind. 2. The perception of the signification of signs. 3. The perception of the connection or repug nancy, agreement or disagreement, that there is between any of our ideas. All these are attributed to the under standing, or perceptive power, though it be the two latter only that use allows us to say we understand. Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxi. § 5. ceives ideas, it is called the understanding, as it produces Berkeley, Human Knowledge, i. § 27. 3. The representative faculty; the power of abstract thought; the logical power. Kantian writers restrict understanding to the operation of abstractive thought concerning objects of po ible experience. or otherwise operates about them, it is called the will. And thus we discover a power we have of heightening the colour of our ideas, of changing or directing their course by the application of our notice: and the exercise of this power I take to be what is commonly meant by an act of the understanding . A. Tucker , Light of Nature, xii. § 1. As all acts of the understanding can be reduced to judgments, the understanding may be defined as the faculty of judging. For we saw before that the understanding is the faculty of thinking, and thinking is knowledge by means of concepts. Kant , Critique of Pure Reason (tr. by Müller), II. 61. 4. Intelligence between two or more persons; agreement of minds; harmony; union of sentiment; also, something mutually understood or agreed upon: as, there was an understanding between them. I love to promote among my Clients a good Understand ing . Steele, Tender Husband, v. 1. underscore. You have under stroked that offensive word, to show that it is to be printed in italic. Swift , To the Duche of Queens bury, March 20, 1752. understudy (un'der-stud"i), n. The at ., one who has made a special study of a particular part, and is capable of playing that part at a moment's notice in the absence of the actor or actre to whom it is usually a igned. understudy (un'der-stud i), r. t.; pret, and pp. ppr. understudying. [ She 's in the chorus now, but she'll get her chance some day;... she's understudied ever so many parts. The Atlantic, LXVII. 250. under-suit (un'dėr-sūt), n. A suit worn under or beneath another suit. [Rare.] His own under - suit was so well lined. Fuller , Worthies, Hants.