underset

Definition

To set under or beneath.

Etymology

From Middle English undersetten, from Old English undersettan (“to put, place, or set under, put in the place of another, substitute, falsify, forge, counterfeit, place as a pledge, hypothecate, add, annex, subjoin, make subject, submit, set beneath, esteem less”), equivalent to under- + set. Cognate with Dutch ondersetten (“to put beneath”), German untersetzen (“to put beneath, pin”).

Example Sentences

• "How it was shaped up with proper foreway and under-set for dished wheels, or how iron "clouts" (with "clout-nails") were carefully fitted into it to take the wear — is all but gone from my memory, as indeed it was hardly worth storing [...]"
• "being a company at that time , and well underset with rich men , and good order"
• "Unless posts are underset in very steep mines they are apt to fall out before the pressure of the roof has tightened them. Posts are sometimes too much underset, owing to their being too long."