a. and sb. [f. L. subterrāneus (see SUBTERRANE) + -AN.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of inanimate objects: Existing, lying or situated below the surface of the earth; formed or constructed underground, either by nature or by the hand of man; underground.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 747. Their further inquiery, whether there are not Subterranean trees growing under earth.
a. 1625. Chaloner, Six Serm. (1629), 24. Even the Labyrinthes of Dedalus haue left their subterranean habitations.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 95. [The Caspian Sea] has no … entercourse with any Sea, except (as is credible) it be subterranean, into the Euxine.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, I. 34. Tell, by … what subterranean Ways, Back to the Fountain’s Head the Sea conveys The refluent Rivers.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett., II. xlix. 64. I was … led into one of the subterranean apartments, which they call ‘The Stables of the Elephants.’
1835. Lyell, Princ. Geol. (ed. 4), IV. 6. The relative date of rocks formed in the subterranean regions during the Newer Pliocene ages. Ibid., Index 450. Subterranean lava causes elevation of land.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 316. In 1685 the tin of Cornwall … was still one of the most valuable subterranean productions of the island.
1856. Macaulay, Johnson, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8), XII. 795. His taste in cookery, formed in subterranean ordinaries and Alamode beefshops, was far from delicate.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., xiv. (1858), 439. The subterranean vault, over which … the whole structure was erected.
1860. Prescott, Electr. Telegr., 169. The idea of building subterranean lines in this country!
1863. Dana, Man. Geol., 647. Subterranean streams, which have their rise in hills and mountains, and are fed, like the surface-rivers, by the rains and snows.
1877. Northcote, Rom. Catacombs, I. v. 71. The ceilings of their subterranean chapels.
1878. Encycl. Brit., VIII. 685/1. Along the French coast several subterranean affluents of the Mediterranean have been discovered.
b. Of animate beings: Living or working under ground.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. i. I. ii. Of these sublunary Diuels, Psellus makes six kindes, fiery, aeriall, terrestriali, watery, and subterranean Diuels.
1642. Howell, Twelve Treat. (1661), 50. Ther were subterranean invisible troups (at Ragland Castle) mustered under-ground in Wales.
1753. Richardson, Grandison (1754), VI. ix. Subterranean colliers, tinners, [&c.].
1835. Kirby, Creat. Anim., II. 420. Baron Humboldt has given an account of a wonderful eruption of subterranean fishes.
c. Of physical phenomena, forces or movements, actions, etc.: Operating or performed under ground.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1190. The casting up aloft into the aire of stones & cinders by subterranean windes under the earth.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 231. When the force Of subterranean wind transports a Hill Torn from Pelorus.
1813. Bakewell, Introd. Geol., Pref. 6. All rocks or strata have been either formed or consolidated by central subterranean fire.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxiv. Immured as she seemed to be, to perish by a strange and subterranean death. Ibid. (1829), Anne of G., ii. A noise like subterranean thunder.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 585. The same localities … were during later periods influenced by more gradual and continual subterranean expansion.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 186. This region is peculiarly subject to subterranean disturbances.
d. Bot. Of parts of a plant: Growing under ground.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 491. Subterranean..., growing under the earth.
1849. Balfour, Man. Bot., § 70. Stems have been divided into aerial, or stems which appear wholly or partially above ground; and subterranean, or those which are entirely under ground.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 349. The subterranean shoots of the rhizome.
e. Of trees or a forest: Buried in the earth.
1813. Bakewell, Introd. Geol., 11. On the coast of Lincolnshire and part of Yorkshire there is a subterranean forest about seventeen feet under the present high-water mark.
2. Existing under the earth; belonging to the lower regions or underworld; infernal.
1619. Sir A. Gorges, trans. Bacon’s Wisd. Anc., 156. He [Pluto] caught vp Proserpina … and caried her away with him in his Coach to the Subterranean dominions.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 20 Feb. 1645. The celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean deities.
a. 1806. Horsley, Serm., xx. (1816), II. 176. The consolation which the preaching of our Lord in the subterranean regions afforded to these prisoners of hope.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. i. And ye, as subterranean Apparitions are wont, vanish utterly,—leaving only a smell of sulphur!
3. fig. Existing or working out of sight, in the dark, or secretly.
1651. J. Jane, Εικων Ακλαστος, 230. They never pretended priviledge of Parliament further then the subterranean junto.
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep., VI. i. (1866), 782. His subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, I. 570. They saw through the subterranean injustice and virulent animosity of the Jews in bringing false charges against innocent men.
1882. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., III. 68. The subterranean and more ignoble works of faction.
1891. Hall Caine, Scapegoat, xxvi. The entire town … was honeycombed with subterranean revolt.
B. sb.
1. One who lives under ground; a cave-dweller.
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of News, I. vi. 44. Her Graces Grandfather, Was Duke, and Cousin to the King of Ophyr, The Subterranean.
1691. R. Kirk, Secret Commw., i. (1815), 5. These Subterraneans eat but little in their Dwellings.
1833. L. Ritchie, Wand. Loire, 61. An anecdote … will convey a better idea … of the habitations and manners of the subterraneans.
2. An inhabitant of the lower regions.
1836. I. Taylor, Phys. Theory, xvi. 219. That very ancient, and may we not say biblical classification of all intelligent orders, under the three heads of celestials, terrestrials, and subterraneans.
3. An underground cave, chamber or dwelling.
1797. in C. K. Paul, W. Godwin (1876), I. 259. We proceeded to about the middle of the subterranean.
c. 1800. R. Cumberland, John De Lancaster (1809), III. 251. I have … a subterranean of strong beer to set the antient Britons a-dancing on their heads.
1836. Wiseman, 12 Lect. Sci. & Rev. Relig., II. 146. The hypogeæ, or subterraneans of Eilithyia.
1855. Newman, Callista (1890), 333. The passage … was only one of several natural subterraneans … opening into each other.
1906. R. Whiteing, Ring in the New, 66. Prue found an ample subterranean, neatly furnished.
b. fig. pl. Depths.
1912. Engl. Rev., Dec., 27. Down into subterraneans within myself that were positively frightening.
