U N D 
UNDERSTOOD), pret. and part, passive of understand. 
UNDERSTRA'PPER, s. A petty fellow; an inferior 
agent.—Every understrapper perk’d up, and expected a 
regiment, or his son must be a major. Swift. 
UNDERTAKABLE, adj. That may be undertaken.— 
I have not in any place found any such labour or difficulty, 
but that it was undertakable by a man of very mean, that 
is, of my abilities. Chilling-worth. 
To UNDERTA'KE, v. a. pret. undertook ; participle 
passi vq undertaken, [underfangen, German.] To attempt; 
to engage in. 
The task he undertakes 
Is numbering sands, and drinking oceans dry. Shakspcare. 
To assume a character. Not in use. 
His name and credit shall you undertake, 
And in my house you shall be friendly lodg’d. 
Shakspeare. 
To engage with; to attacks—You’ll undertake her no 
more ? Shakspeare. —To have the charge of. 
To the waterside I must conduct your grace, 
Then give my charge up to Sir Nicholas Vaux, 
Who undertakes you to your end. Shakspeare. 
To UNDERTA'KE, v. n. To assume any business or 
province.—I undertook alone to wing the abyss. Milton. 
—To venture ; to hazard. 
It is the cowish terror of his spirit. 
That dare not undertake. Shakspeare. 
To promise; to stand bound to some condition.—If the 
curious search the hills after rains, I dare undertake they 
will not lose their labour. Woodward. 
UNDERTA'KEN, part, passive of undertake. 
UNDERTA'KER, s. One who engages in projects and 
affairs.—Antrim was naturally a great undertaker. Cla¬ 
rendon. —One who engages to build for another at a certain 
price. 
Should they build as fast as write, 
’Twould ruin undertakers quite. Swift. 
One who manages funerals. 
While rival undertakers hover round. 
And with his spade the sexton marks the ground. Young. 
UNDERTAKING, s. Attempt; enterprise; engage¬ 
ment.—Mighty men they are called; which sheweth a 
strength surpassing others: and men of renown, that is, 
of great undertaking and adventurous actions. Ralegh. 
UNDERTENANT, s. A secondary tenant; one who 
holds from him that holds from the owner.—Settle and 
secure the undertenants ; to the end there may be a repose 
and establishment of every subject’s estate, lord and tenant. 
Davies. 
UNDERTIME, s. Undem-tide; after dinner ; in the 
evening. See Undern. 
He coming home at undertime, there found 
The fayrest creature that he ever saw. 
Sitting beside his mother on the ground. Spenser. 
UNDERTOOK, preterite of undertake. 
UNDERVALUATION, s. Rate not equal to the worth. 
—There is often failing by an undervaluation ; for in divers 
children their ingenerate powers are of slow disclosure. 
Wotton. 
To UNDERVALUE, v. a. To rate low ; to esteem 
lightly ; to treat as of little worth. 
Her name is Portia, nothing undervalu'd 
To Cato’s daughter. Shakspeare. 
My chief delight lay in discharging the duties of my 
station ; so that in comparison of it, I undervalu'd all 
ensigns of authority. At.terbury.— To depress ; to make 
low in estimation; to despise.—I write not this with the 
least intention to undervalue the other parts of poetry. 
Dryden. —In a kingdom grown glorious by the reputation 
of a sovereign, multitudes lessen and undervalue it. Ad¬ 
dison. —Schooling Luther an undervaluing term, would 
U N D 439 
make one think that Erasmus had a mean opinion of him. 
Atterbury. 
UNDERVALUE, s. Low rate; vile price.—The un¬ 
skilfulness, carelessness, or knavery of the traders, added 
much to the undervalue and discredit of these commodities 
abroad. Temple. 
UNDERVA'LUER, s. One who esteems lightly.—An 
undervaluer of money was Sir Henry Wotton. Walton. 
UNDERWENT, preterite of undergo. 
UNDERWOOD, s. The low trees that grow among the 
timber.—When you fell underwood, sow haws and sloes. 
Mortimer. 
UNDERWOOD, a hamlet of England, in the parish of 
Ashborn, Derbyshire. 
UNDERWORK, s. Subordinate business; petty affairs. 
—Those that are proper for war, fill up the laborious part of 
life, and carry on the underwork of the nation. Addison. 
To UNDERWO'RK, v. a. pret. and part. pass, under¬ 
worked, or underwrought. To destroy by clandestine mea- 
sures. 
Thou from loving England art so far. 
That thou hast underwrought its lawful king. 
To cut off the sequence of posterity. Shakspeare. 
To labour or polish less than enough.—Apelles said of 
Protogenes, that he knew not when to give over. A work 
may be overwrought as well as underwrought. Dryden .— 
To work at a price below the common. 
UNDERWO'RKMAN, s. An inferior or subordinate 
labourer.—Nor would they hire umlerworkmen to employ 
their parts and learning to disarm their mother of all. Leslie. 
To UNDER WRI'TE, v. a. [unbepppitan, Saxon.] To 
write under something else.—He began first with his pipe, 
and then with his voice, thus to challenge Dorus, and was 
by him answered in the underwritten sort. Sidney. 
UNDERWRITER, s. An insurer; so called from writ¬ 
ing his name under the conditions. 
UNDES, an extensive district of Northern Hindostan, bor¬ 
dering on Little Thibet. Its principal town is Deba, which 
stands in lat. 30. 13. N. long. 80. 2. E. 
UNDESCRI'BED, adj. Not described.—They urge, that 
God left nothing in his word undescribed, whether it con¬ 
cerned the worship of God, or outward polity. Hooker. 
UNDESCRl'ED, adj. Not seen; unseen; undiscovered. 
—Who can tell at what undescriecl fields of knowledge even 
man may at length arrive ? Wollaston. 
UNDESERVED, adj. Not merited; not obtained by 
merit.—This victory, obtained with great, and truely not un¬ 
deserved, honour to the two princes, the whole estates, with 
one consent, gave the crown to Musidorus. Sidney .—Not 
incurred by fault.—The same virtue which gave him a dis¬ 
regard of lame, made him impatient of an undeserved re¬ 
proach. Addison. 
UNDESERVEDLY, adv. Without desert, whether of 
good or ill.—Our desire is to yield them a just reason, even 
of the least things, wherein undeservedly they have but as 
much as dreamed that we do amiss. Hooker. 
UNDESE'RVEDNESS, s. Want of being worthy.—If 
much be due to God from us on account of the greatness of 
our blessing, how much more is due, when we consider the 
undeservedness of it ? Newton. 
UNDESE'RVER, s. One of no merit.—You see how 
men of merit are sought after; the undeserver may sleep, 
when the man of action is called on. Shakspeare. 
UNDESERVING, adj. Not having merit; not having 
any worth.—It exerts itself promiscuously towards the de¬ 
serving and the undeserving, if it relieves alike the idle and 
the indigent. Addison. —Not meriting any particular ad¬ 
vantage or hurt: with of .—1 was carried to mislike, then to 
hate ; lastly to destroy this son undeserving of destruction. 
Sidney. 
UNDESERVINGLY, adv. Without meriting any par¬ 
ticular harm or advantage.—He suffered some to be unde¬ 
servedly rich, others to be undeservingly poor. Milton. 
UNDESl'GNED, adj. Not intended; not purposed.— 
Great 
