[OE. underlecgan (see UNDER-1 4 a and LAY v.), = MDu. and Du. onderleggen, MHG. underlegen (G. unter-), MSw. undirläggia (Sw. underlägga), MDa. and Da. underlægge.]
1. trans. To support by placing something beneath; to furnish with something laid below. Also fig.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past C., xix. 143. Ðonne bið se elnboʓa underled mid pyle & se hnecca mid bolstre.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 144. Þa bæd he hi anre sylle, þæt he mihte þæt hus on ða sæ healfe mid þære underlecgan.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3388. He is under-leiden wið an ston, Til sunne him seilede in ðe west.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 327. They vnderlaye them with grasse.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 60. They vse to set the heads vnderlaying them with a Tileshard.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., II. xiv. 110. You ought not to stitch any wounded Finger,… but underlay it with little splinters.
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., ix. 157. If the Board be too thin, they underlay that Board upon every Joyst with a Chip.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 10 b. Another way of making the weight slip along … is by underlaying it cross-ways with Rollers.
1851. Athenæum, Oct., 1049/1. Their project of underlaying the sea with electric wires.
b. To furnish with a lining or backing.
1502. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 302. Franch tanne to be ane cote to Jacob … v quartaris demy ostad to underlay the bordoring of it.
† c. To furnish (shoes) with additional soling-pieces or heel-plates. Also in fig. context. Obs.
c. 1530. [see UNDERLAID ppl. a. 2].
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. F 4. If the sooles be naught (as they be indeede) yet must they be vnderlaied with other peeces of leather, to make them seeme thicke.
1587. Turberv., Epit., 190 b. The heeles they vnderlay With clouting clamps of steele.
1632. Holland, Cyrupædia, 181. The Medes use … such a kind of shooes, as they might underlay closely and out of sight.
1661. K. W., Conf. Charac., To Rdr. (1860), 1. Should I, like an vnthrifty cobler, haue vnderlayed the rotten soles of these now worn out buskings, with the new and costly leather of applause.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 1272. To underlay a shoe, suppingere.
fig. 1592. Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., 7. Then wil I bind my selfe prentise to a Cobler, and fresh vnderlay all those writings of mine that haue trodde awrie.
1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, E 3 b. Being a pollitike cobler, and remembring what peece of work he was to vnderlay.
1622[?]. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, V. iii. Our souls have trode awry in all mens sight, We’ll underlay ’em, till they go upright.
d. Printing. To place paper or cardboard under (type, etc.) in order to raise to the required level for printing.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. 291. If any Wooden Letters … are too Low, (as they generally be) he Vnder-lays them.
1880. Scribner’s Mag., May, 42/2. The pressman underlays the plate, by pasting on its under side bits of paper of suitable size.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Underlay, the process of making-ready under type or cuts.
2. To place (something) beneath.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxviii. (Z.), 167. Subpono, ic underlecge.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 511/1. Vnderleyyn, idem quod underputtyn.
1573. Twyne, Æneid, XII. N n j. A tower stronge … the prince … had built alone, And choules [? read roules] had vnderlayd [L. subdideratque rotas].
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxii. ¶ 10. If a Page be too big for his Grasp, he underlays the Slice of a Galley.
b. To put underground, to bury.
Used punningly with allusion to sense 1 c.
1639. Conceits, Clinches, etc. (1860), 40. If any aske why this same stone was made? (Know) for a cobler newly underlayd Here for his overboasting.
† 3. To make subject; to submit. Obs.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter viii. 7. Þou vnderlaide [L. subjecisti] alle þinges Vnder his fete.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18266. Sin þou þe king o blis werraid And sua þi-self has vnder-laid.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. xxvii. 12. Vnderleith [L. subjicite] ȝoure neckus vnder the ȝoc of the king of Babyloyne.
4. To lie under or beneath; = UNDERLIE v. 3.
1591. Spenser, Virg. Gnat, 99. Ne cares he if the … glistering of golde, which vnderlayes The summer beames, doe blinde his gazing eye.
1611. Cotgr., Haulse, the vnderlaying of a shooe, or peece of leather that vnderlayes it.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 178. In the south of France it occurs reposing on granite, and underlaying basalt. Ibid. In the Altaischan mountains it sometimes underlays argillite.
1826. E. Irving, Babylon, II. VII. 227. Our brethren and friends, who still underlay the curse.
1861. Dasent, Burnt Njal, I. Introd. p. xxviii. [The right of duel] underlaid all their early legislation.
5. intr. Mining. To slope, incline from the perpendicular; = UNDERLIE v. 5.
1728. Phil. Trans., XXXV. 403. The Sides of the Load … constantly underlay either to the North or South.
1802. J. Mawe, Min. Derby, Gloss, s.v., When a vein hades, or inclines from a perpendicular line, it is said to underlay.
1855. [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall, 101. A lode which underlays towards the north.
