Below adv. and prep.

Forms: 4 bilooghe, 6 by lowe, beloe, belowe, 6– below. [f. BE prep. + LOW a. (in ME. loȝ, loogh). Very rare in ME., and only as an adverb; it began apparently as a variant of the earlier a-lowe, A-LOW, the parallel form to an-high (now on high); the synonymous pair, a-low be-low, were analogous to a-fore be-fore, etc. Below was not a common word till the 16th c., towards the end of which the prepositional use (not found with a-low) arose, and is frequent in Shakespeare. Below and beneath constitute together the opposite of above. As to their use, and relations to under, see BENEATH B.]

  A.  (without object expressed.) adv.

1.  gen. In a low position relatively to another place; in or to a lower position, lower down.

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 116. & syþen on lenþe bi-looghe ledez inogh.

1567.  Turberv., in Chalmers, Eng. Poets, II. 616/2. It makes the Oke to overlooke the slender shrubs bylow.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 205 (J.). To Men standing below on the Ground, those that be on the Top of Pauls, seeme much lesse than they are, and cannot bee knowne.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 373. The Waters … belching from below, Black Sands, as from a forceful Engine throw. Ibid. (1700), Pal. & Arc., I. 218. Then look’d below, and from the Castle’s height Beheld a … pleasing sight.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xxiii. (1806), 137. The child … leaped from her arms into the flood below.

1842.  Tennyson, Fatima, iv. From below Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow.

  b.  Lower on a written sheet or page; hence, later in a book or writing; at the foot of the page.

1694.  Salmon, Iatrica, I. v. 292/1. He may use the pills below described.

1784.  R. Burrow, Comp. Ladies Diary, 35. Read what’s below.

1807.  F. Wrangham, Serm. Transl. Script., 38. The passages alluded to below have been quoted almost to satiety.

1863.  A. Horwood, Yearbks. 30 & 31 Edw. I., Pref. 29. The forms subjoined in the note below.

  2.  In a lower position relatively to some place of permanent reference: a. Under heaven; on earth. Often prec. by here. arch. or poet.

1574.  A. L., Calvin’s Foure Serm., i. God faileth not to send down certain beames hether by lowe to lighten us.

1680.  Butler, Elephant in Moon, 284. That Elephant may differ so From those upon the Earth below.

1764.  Goldsm., Trav., 63. Where to find that happiest spot below. Ibid. (1766), Hermit, viii. Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.

1821.  Keats, Lamia, 280. Finer spirits cannot breathe below In human climes.

1832.  Athenæum, 377. The merry stream floweth For all below.

  b.  Under the earth; in Hades, in hell.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 31. Or Phœbus Steeds are founderd Or Night kept chain’d below.

a. 1740.  Tickell, Poems (1796), 31 (J.).

1813.  Hogg, Queen’s Wake. Macgregor would dive to the mansions below!

a. 1843.  Southey, Inchc. Rock, xvii. 4. As if with the Inchcape Bell, The fiends below were ringing his knell.

1847.  Barham, Ingol. Leg. (1869), 191. They say she is now leading apes, and mends Bachelors’ small clothes below.

  c.  On a lower floor, down-stairs, ‘below-stairs’; under the deck, in or into the cabin or hold of a ship.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 150. There’s one Master Broome below would faine speake with you.

c. 1600.  Rob. Hood (Ritson), II. xvi. 90. Fell down on the ship hatch And under the hatches there below.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 269, ¶ 1. A man below desired to speak with me.

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxiii. 68. It being the turn of our watch to go below.

1859.  G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxii. (1885), 155. This Adonis of the lower household was a mighty man below.

  3.  Lower down a slope, valley or course of a river; nearer to the sea.

1810.  T. Jefferson, Corr. (1830), 15. She expected … a British fleet from below.

  4.  fig. In a lower rank, grade or station.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 130. The Generall’s disdain’d By him one step below.

1882.  Times, 15 March, 9/2. That wholesale enlistment of Russian volunteers which made it impossible for Alexander II. to resist the pressure from below in 1877.

1884.  Sir W. Brett, Law Rep. XIV. Q. Bench, 798. The view which the judgment of the Court below upholds.

  B.  (with obj.) prep.

  1.  Lower than, at a less elevation than.

1569.  Turberv., All Things as used, in Epit. & Sonn. (1870), 184 (R.). Bylowe the lampe of Phœbus light.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 2. O blessed breeding Sun … below thy Sisters Orbe Infect the ayre.

1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 33. The Screw-plate will, after it gets a little below the Tapering, go no farther.

1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xvii. 8. He never counted him a man Would strike below the knee.

1849.  Mrs. Somerville, Phys. Geog., II. xxiv. 136. Immediately below the snow-line.

1855.  Motley, Dutch Rep. (1876), I. 1. A district lying partly below the level of the ocean.

1863.  C. St. John, Nat. Hist. Moray, i. 2. The bird is looking in all directions below her for any enemy.

  b.  Below-stairs (now usually down-stairs): at the foot of the staircase, on or to the floor below, esp. the ground-floor; hence, in or into the kitchen or servants’ hall.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, V. ii. 10. Why shall I alwaies keepe below staires?

1667.  E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. (1684), 153. The Cofferer … is to pay the Wages to the King’s Servants above and below stairs.

1749.  Fitzcotton, Iliad, I. Pref. 14. Leaving the young people below-stairs, to divert themselves.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, viii. Kit’s mother, poor woman, is waiting at the grate below stairs.

1850.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xvi. 144. St. Clare will have high life below stairs.

  c.  Of position in a writing or on a printed page.

1743.  J. Barclay, Educ., 84. Below the simple verbs are translated into English all the useful rules and observations in Mr. Ruddiman’s grammar, relating to the conjugation of compounds.

1858.  W. Holdsworth, Law of Wills, 13. No signature will give effect to any disposition or direction which is inserted below or after it in point of place.

  d.  fig. Too low for the influence of, too low to be affected by.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 168. It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants.

  2.  Lower on a slope than; farther down a valley or stream than: hence below-bridge = lower than London (or other) Bridge; nearer the bottom, or what is considered the bottom, of a room than, as below the gangway in the British House of Commons.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. iii. 103. At the consecrated Fount, A League below the Citie.

1691.  T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., C. Below bridge, where the great Scene of Navigation lyes.

1871.  Ruskin, Fors Clav., II. xiv. 11. Below the village, the valley opens … into a broad flat meadow.

1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., i. 2. The water sweeps down below bridge in the direction of Greenwich.

1885.  Weekly Times, 8 May, 15/4. Below the gangway sat a strong Radical party.

  b.  Of time: Later than, after. rare.

1775.  T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, Dissert. ii. (L.). The most eminent scholars which England produced, both in philosophy and humanity, before and even below the twelfth century, were educated in our religious houses.

  3.  Deeper than. Also fig.

1849.  Mrs. Somerville, Phys. Geog., II. xxiv. 129. The ground is perpetually frozen at a very small depth below the surface.

1872.  Mem. Agnes E. Jones, vi. 387. This call was followed by one or two more, but we did not get below the surface.

1884.  G. Symons, Brit. Rainf., 21. That water is usually about 3 ft. below the surface of the ground.

1885.  Sir W. Thomson, in Nature, XXXI. 409. The necessity for study below the surface seems to have been earliest recognised in anatomy.

  4.  Directly beneath; under the covering or canopy of; undemeath. More strictly expressed by under, beneath.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, V. ii. 137. To the discent and dust below thy foote.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 472. From her Mossy Bow’r below the Ground.

1719.  Watts, Ps. cxvii. From all that dwell below the skies.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. iii. 21. Sitting on this stone, And thinking who it was who lay below it.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. vii. Books lay on tables and below tables.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., XII. i. Some dolorous message knit below The wild pulsation of her wings.

  5.  Under the influence of; = BENEATH 4. rare.

1813.  Byron, Ch. Har., I. xlvii. His vineyard … Blasted below the dim hot breath of war.

  6.  Of position in a graduated scale, e.g., that of a barometer: hence a. Lower, in amount, weight, strength, value, price, degree of any quality, than.

1721.  Perry, Daggenh. Breach, 30. Having made it sure that no Man else would go below [underbid] him.

1788.  Priestley, Lect. Hist., V. liii. 416. In this case, the exchange is said to be below par at London.

1840.  E. Turner, Elem. Chem. (ed. 7), II. 445. In this state it … fuses below redness.

1848.  Mill, Pol. Econ., II. V. iii. § 5. 377. Incomes below a certain amount should be altogether untaxed.

1849.  Mrs. Somerville, Phys. Geog., II. xxiv. 124. The cold has been 120° below Zero.

1884.  Mrs. H. Wood, White Witch, II. viii. 190. He threw himself into the seat beside her and said below his breath, [etc.].

1884.  G. Symons, Brit. Rainf., 84. The rainfall of this month … is considerably below the average.

Mod.  Throughout England the barometer stood below 29.

  b.  fig. Lower in rank, dignity, or station than.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, II. ii. 32. From below your Duke to beneath your Constable.

1668.  Dryden, Maiden Queen, I. iii. I love below myself, a Subject.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 49, ¶ 7. He … gives his Orders … to the Servants below him.

1751.  Jortin, Serm. (1771), II. iv. 73. Unless he is sunk below a beast.

1823.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. ii. (1865), 248. No woman dresses below herself from caprice.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 227. A man far below them in station.

1885.  J. Martineau, Ethical The., I. 275. What he treats as Substance relatively to phenomenal nature below it, he regards as Attribute relatively to a prior infinite nature above it.

  c.  Lower, in quality or excellence, or in some particular quality, than; inferior to.

1710.  Felton, Diss. Classics (1715), 152 (T.). His Idylliums of Theocritus are as much below his Manilius, as the Fields are below the Stars.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., viii. (1806), 34. The finest strokes … are much below those in the Acis and Galatea of Ovid.

1839.  Bailey, Festus, viii. So far is the lightest heart below True happiness.

1847.  Macaulay, Lett., in Trevelyan, Life (1876), II. xi. 232. How far my performance is below excellence.

1871.  Haweis, Mus. & Mor. (1874), 505. We place England and France below Germany.

  7.  Unworthy of, unbefitting, lowering to. More usually expressed by BENEATH.

1637.  Bridgman, in Prynne’s Prelate’s Tyrr. (1641), 223. It is much below me to be an Informer.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 23, ¶ 2. It was below a Gentlewoman to wrangle. Ibid. (1712), ibid. No. 522, ¶ 2. A man … of birth and estate below no woman to accept.

1743.  J. Barclay, Educ., 36. Such things some may reckon below attention, but, from the greatest trifles at school, one may draw the best instruction.

1827.  Hallam, Const. Hist. (1842), I. 139. A compiler … who thinks no fact below his regard.

1883.  Proctor, in Knowledge, 10 Aug., 94/1. Too far below contempt to be worth castigating.