underset

Etymology

From Middle English undersetten, from Old English undersettan (“to put, place, or set under, put in the place of another, substitute, falsify, forge, counterfeit, place as a pledge, hypothecate, add, annex, subjoin, make subject, submit, set beneath, esteem less”), equivalent to under- + set. Cognate with Dutch ondersetten (“to put beneath”), German untersetzen (“to put beneath, pin”).

noun

  1. undercurrent (of water)

verb

  1. To set under or beneath.“How it was shaped up with proper foreway and under-set for dished wheels, or how iron "clouts" (with "clout-nails") were carefully fitted into it to take the wear — is all but gone from my memory, as indeed it was hardly worth storing [...]”
  2. To prop or support.“being a company at that time , and well underset with rich men , and good order”