v. [UNDER-1 10 a.]
1. intr. a. To refrain from full action.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, II. iii. You ouer-act when you should vnder-doe.
b. To do less than is requisite or necessary.
1622. F. Markham, Bk. War, II. vii. 67. He [sc. the corporal] must equally vnderstand both how to obey and how to command, and therwithal it must be mixt with such a temperance, that he must neither ouerdoe nor vnderdoe, lest he utterly undoe.
1642. W. Price, Serm., 8. We would not cry, that Preacher overdoes, this underdoes, and that goes too farre, this falls short.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. iv. iv. 79. Nature is so intent upon finishing her Work, that she may be observ’d much oftener to over do, than under do.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, ii. 121. He may either overdoe, and give too much,… or he may underdoe and give too little.
1739. J. Trapp, Righteous Over-much, 5. We may … under-doe, and be defective.
2. trans. To do, or deal with, insufficiently or imperfectly.
1716. Derham, Phys.-Theol., To Reader A vij. In the former of which I fear he will think I have as much under-done, as in the latter over-done, the Matter.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. v. (1869), I. 47. They sometimes overdo the business, and sometimes underdo it.
1886. Mrs. Hungerford, Mental Struggle, iii. Once or twice … it struck me that you were rather under-doing it.
1888. Rickaby, Mor. Philos., 77. Doing right is opposed to overdoing the thing, and to underdoing it.
b. To act (a part) inadequately. Also used attrib.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VII. 401. Thou must, however, own a good deal of blunder of the over-do and under-do kind, with respect to the part thou actedst. Ibid. (1754), Grandison, I. xv. 95. Can I do it, if I place him in the light of a Lover, and not … underdo his character as such?
c. 1770. Jortin, Serm. (1771), I. v. 87. A disposition and behaviour which may be overdone as well as underdone.
c. spec. To cook insufficiently. (Cf. UNDERDONE ppl. a.)
1864. Webster.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 1 Jan., 7/2. An adept at underdoing the meat and overdoing the potatoes.
Hence Underdoer.
1753. Richardson, Grandison, V. ix. 45. These overdoers, my dear, are wicked wretches. What do they, but make religion look unlovely, and put underdoers out of heart?
