1. Beneath the foot or feet; on the ground: a. With vbs., esp. tread. (Also in fig. use: cf. 2.)
α. c. 1200. Ormin, 2561. Forr ȝho tradd deofell unnderrfot Þwertt ut onn alle wise.
c. 1400. Hymns Virg. (1867), 12. To felle oure foomen vndir foote.
c. 1475. Mankind, 199, in Macro Plays, 8. Yt doth my soull myche yll, To se þe flesch prosperouse, & þe soull trodyn wnder fore.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 30 b. Yet is not theyr authoritie so decaied hieby that euery man may treade it vnder foote.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 122. Katerine, that Cap of yours becomes you not, Off with that bable, throw it vnderfoote.
1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, Wks. (Grosart), I. 107. His lockes that hang wantonly dangling, troden in durt vnderfoote.
1678. Wanley, Wonders Little World, IV. viii. 374. His Wife … overthrew the Table, and tumbled down all the Provision under-foot.
1708. T. Ward, Eng. Ref., IV. (1815), 429. [He] Stamp’d underfoot a crucifix, As Hollanders are wont to do When on Japonian shore they go.
1802. Mrs. Guthrie, Tour through the Taurida, 64. Instead of effecting this adhesion by the pressure of cylinders, it is done … by treading them underfoot for a few hours.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par. (1870), I. I. 349. A fair ivory image of the god That underfoot a golden serpent trod.
β. 1539. Bible (Great), Isaiah xiv. 19. As a dead coarse that is troden vnder fete.
c. 1620. Moryson, Itin., IV. (1903), 496. The Empire … of the Greekes … hath beene vtterly abolished, and the people haue beene troden vnderfeete.
1641. Burroughs, Sions Joy, 33. They sought to cast shame upon the Saints,… trampling them underfeete as dirt.
1760. Impostors Detected, II. ii. I. 170. Sacred relicks trampled under feet!
1857. Holland, Bay Path, xxix. Her memory … trodden under feet by malice, prejudice, and superstition.
b. In other constructions.
1599. E. Wright, Voy. Earl Cumbld., 22, in Cert. Errors Navig. Some licked with their tongues … the boardes vnder feete.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1225. Lysitheus mounting upon the boord, laied him along on the floore, and there under-foot dispatched him.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 700. Underfoot the Violet, Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay Broiderd the ground.
1802. Mrs. Guthrie, Tour through the Taurida, 203. They [sc. skins] are next worked under-feet in an infusion of oak-leaves in warm water.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xcv. By night we linger’d on the lawn, For underfoot the herb was dry.
1880. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, I. i. Dried leaves in occasional beds rustled underfoot.
1900. Mary Johnston, To Have & to Hold, vi. 56. There were no women at the well, no children underfoot, no gaping crowd before gaol and pillory, no guard before the Governor’s house,—not a soul, high or low, to be seen.
c. Naut. (See FOOT sb. 33 b.)
d. Down below; underneath; underground.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, iii. (1904), 96. The obscure sojourn of dæmons and reprobate is underfoot.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, xxvi. Coming to the edge of the hills [we] saw the whose Carse of Stirling underfoot.
2. fig. In(to) a state of subjection or inferiority.
c. 1205. Lay., 11693. For þis lond … he hit hæfde al vnder fot.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 40. Ȝif me worpen mid him al þe world under vet.
c. 1290. Beket, 1995, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 163. Ake nolde it god þat holi churche under fote were so.
1340. Ayenb., 85. Ac uirtue arereþ þane man an heȝ, and him deþ þe wordle onderuot.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 7. Tho was the vertu sett above And vice was put under fote.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 172. He ne holdyth hym not y-lowet ne vndyrfote of the dyssayses whyche he hathe escapid.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps. xxxviii. Wks. (1876), 52. She enhaunced herselfe ferre aboue the derknes of synne puttynge vnderfote thoccasyon of it.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. cxxxvi. 833. I sawe that that man was nothing vnder foote, and as for myselfe I was in extreeme neede.
1891. Meredith, One of our Conq., xxxiii. No, not he the man to have pity of women underfoot!
† 3. Below the real or current value. Obs.
1594. Death of Usurie, 12. The man beeing driuen to distresse, sels his corne farre vnder foote.
1600. Holland, Livy, 591. The very same plot of ground whereon hee was encamped, happened at the same time to be sold: not underfoot, but at the full price.
a. 1654. Selden, Table-t. (Arb.), 64. When men did let their Land underfoot, the Tenants would fight for their Landlords.
4. Quietly, secretly. rare–1.
1860. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., III. cxxxiv. 102. But it is not the same with the minor martyrdoms. A store of these is cherished under foot.
