sb. [UNDER-1 5 c.] Shrubs and small trees forming the undergrowth in a forest.
Originally and chiefly U.S.; common from c. 1845.
a. 1813. A. Wilson, Foresters, Poet. Wks. (1846), 256. Here piles of logs like furnaces appear, The rows of underbrush rage far and near.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xix. The next thing was to clear away the underbrush, and have fair play at the trees.
1888. Stevenson, Black Arrow, vi. It was a tall grove of oaks, firm under foot and clear of underbrush.
Hence Underbrush v. trans., to clear of underwood. Also fig.
1865. P. B. St. John, Snow Ship, vi. 52–3. To clear an acre of land, a thorough good chopper, after the land is underbrushed, will, in eight days, on an average, fell the trees.
1896. Home Missionary (N.Y.), Jan., 461. The minister … begins to underbrush and cut down the giant sins that have grown on such fat soil.
