Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To be located under or below.
  • transitive verb To be the support or basis of; account for.
  • transitive verb To constitute a prior claim over.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In mining, same as underlay, 1.
  • To lie in a position directly beneath.
  • To lie under or beneath; be situated under; specifically, in geology, to occupy a lower position than, or to pass beneath: said of stratified rocks over which other rocks are spread out.
  • To be at the basis of; form the foundation of.
  • To lie under, in a figurative sense; be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or a challenge.
  • noun See underlye.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To lie below or under.
  • noun See underlay, n., 1.
  • transitive verb To lie under; to rest beneath; to be situated under.
  • transitive verb To be at the basis of; to form the foundation of; to support.
  • transitive verb rare To be subject or amenable to.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To lie in a position directly beneath.
  • verb transitive To lie under or beneath.
  • verb transitive To serve as a basis of; form the foundation of.
  • verb transitive To be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or challenge.
  • verb mining To underlay.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be or form the base for
  • verb lie underneath

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English underliggen, from Old English underlicgan ("to underlie, to be subject to, give way to"), equivalent to under- +‎ lie. Cognate with Dutch onderliggen ("to lie below, lie on the bottom of"), German unterliegen ("to lie under, be subject to, succumb").

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Examples

  • He calls it the "underlying principles" approach, which in his words, "discern [s] from the text the deeper underlying principles that underlie is particular injunctions."

    Balkinization 2006

  • December 18, 2006 • 6: 45 pm the shia thug from mumbai her words gilded silence as her thoughts zip by ravishing my soul choking my unborn cry my tongue tie her shut lips her shut mouth her shut doors my pain underlie golden silence imply one sided love blinded in an eye hope runs dry crushed by the weight of another good bye picture shot by mr subash solanki of subash electronics posted 12 oct 2006

    the shia thug from mumbai « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2006

  • December 18, 2006 • 6: 45 pm the shia thug from mumbai her words gilded silence as her thoughts zip by ravishing my soul choking my unborn cry my tongue tie her shut lips her shut mouth her shut doors my pain underlie golden silence imply one sided love blinded in an eye hope runs dry crushed by the weight of another good bye picture shot by mr subash solanki of subash electronics posted 12 oct 2006

    2006 December 18 « bollywoods most wanted photographerno1 2006

  • All the same, the calls underlie the urgency of an Iowa-or-bust race that pits U.S. Rep.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • "So when Siri goes out into the Internet looking for what an abortion center is or what an abortion provider is, it hits on these non-abortion-providing organizations because they're the ones who use the word to underlie their websites," Poeter says.

    News 2011

  • The overlapping scales are formed from hairs glued together, there are no dermal plates such as underlie the horny scales of the Armadillo, very much in the same manner as the horn of the Rhinoceros which has no bony core.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Michael Turton 2008

  • In Australia the term "underlie" is used to designate the angle from the perpendicular at which the lode lies in its enclosing rocks, and by

    Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students

  • Often Morris had read or heard of the bewildering power of women, which for his part hitherto he had been inclined to attribute to shallow and very common causes, such as underlie all animate nature.

    Stella Fregelius Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • The three R's of Hebrew love thus show how these people arranged their marriages with reference to social and religious customs or utilitarian considerations, buying their wives by service or otherwise, without any thought of sentimental preferences and sympathies, such as underlie modern Christian marriages of the higher order.

    Primitive Love and Love-Stories Henry Theophilus Finck 1890

  • This unique debate series will examine this divide and the social, economic, and moral beliefs that underlie politics in America today.

    Miles Rapoport: Watch: Ezra Klein and John A. Allison Debate "Capitalism: Is It Moral?" Miles Rapoport 2011

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