v. Obs. exc. dial. [UNDER-1 4 b and 8 b. Cf. OE. undercréopan.]
1. intr. To creep in (stealthily).
1382. Wyclif, Deut. xv. 9. Be war lest perauenture vndur crepe [L. subrepat] to thee a wickid thouȝt.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 6226. For age, or they taken kepe, Lyche a thefe wil vnderkrepe, And appallen the beaute.
2. trans. To creep in beneath. Also fig.
a. 1440. Found. St. Bartholomews (E.E.T.S.), 40. And now hath vndircrept them necligence, charite chyillith.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, VI. Q j b. That seat, men say, do Fansies keepe, And Dreames vncertaine dwell, and euery leafe they vndercreepe.
c. 1597. Harington, On Play, in Nugæ Ant. (1804), I. 227. The olde wall standes by the helpe of that ivey that was the first cawse of rottinge and undercreepinge the fowndacion thearof.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., IX. 587. I then, Choosing myself the fairest of the den, His fleecy belly under-crept.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, III. iii. When we that stately wall had undercrept, We straightway found our selves in Dizoie.
b. fig. To subvert secretly; to outdo by craft or stealth; to undersell in trade.
1592. in R. W. Cochran-Patrick, Records Mining in Scotl. (1878), 59. And thairby sum persones seikand thair avin commoditie myndis to vndercrepe my rycht and tytill. Ibid., 61.
1602. in H. Foley, Rec. Eng. Prov. Soc. Jesus (1875), I. i. 10. He approved it for better policy to undercreep the Scottish agents here.
1623. Sir J. Eliot, in Forster, Life (1864), I. 169. Now, for the price, others under-creep us, and so forestall our markets.
c. To evade, escape.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Prerog. Parl. (1628), 34. Surely my Lord, it is a greater treason (though it vndercrepe the law) to teare from the Crowne the ornaments thereof.
Hence Undercreeping vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xix. (Bodl. MS.). Bi vndercreping and … preuey rennynge of water erþe is ywasted somme and somme.
1847. Halliwell, Undercreeping, mean; pitiful; in an underhand way. Somerset. (Also 1863– in south-western glossaries.)
1893. W. Raymond, Gentleman Upcott’s Dau., ix. (E.D.D.). Above everything he hated undercreeping.
