Meaning of underword | Babel Free

Definitions

A word placed below another, either literally or metaphorically: a subtext; an inadequate or subordinate term or description; a secret word or phrase; a watchword

Examples

“The soldier hesitated, and seemed to mistrust the party; he raised his lantern, and cast⟳ a scrutinising look⟳ at them, but an underword and a mysterious look⟳ of recognition removed his doubts, and they passed on.”

“Such underwords of nature thrill With wonder⟳ and with mystery; The wind has blown them from the hill, The waves have⟳ whispered to the sea; And nature all is manifold Akin with lore we cannot tell⟳, [...]”

“Just as the theory of aggregate demand⟳ sank to an “underword” of debate⟳, so too did the sociology of fertility, once Nassau Senior and Richard Jones had completed the substitution of the psychological for the physiological interpretation.”

“Cordial for cordial, issue⟳ for issue⟳, kiss for kiss, stain for stain, grace for grace, wooing for wooing, warmth for heat: each echo arises to its invocation as a kind of “underword,” a ghost word to be laid and replaced by the strength of the scene to which it is summoned.”

“To emphasize this point⟳, Blake actually buries the text underground, and worms, rather than plant⟳ tendrils, divide⟳ the stanzas. And at the base⟳ of the plate, in the "underword" that has been created through devotion to a specific idea of death, we see⟳ the coffin, covered with turf, and marked with criss-crossed briars.”

“They are invisible fosterers in the sense⟳ that neither is named within the text. Each speaks an underword - italicised to indicate⟳ its fragmentary, translated nature - [...]”

“While to that voice amid those memories heard Answered her underword, No wonder⟳ if the Eternal Presence then Seemed mute no more to men, [...]”

“Beautiful is an underword to describe⟳ you, [...]”

CEFR level