underlay

English

Etymology

From Middle English underleyen, from Old English underlecgan (“to underlay, prop, support”), equivalent to under- +‎ lay. Cognate with Dutch onderleggen (“to lay or put under”), German unterlegen (“to underlay”), Swedish underlägga (“to underlay”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʌndəɻˈleɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb

underlay

1. Simple past of underlie.

Verb

underlay (third-person singular simple present underlays, present participle underlaying, simple past and past participle underlaid)

1. (transitive) To lay (something) underneath something else; to put under.
2. (transitive) To provide a support for something; to raise or support by something laid under.

   to underlay a cut, plate, or the like, for printing

3. (transitive) To put a tap on (a shoe).
4. (mining, intransitive, of a vein, fault, or lode) To incline from the vertical; to hade.

Noun

underlay (plural underlays)

1. A layer (of earth, etc.) that lies under another; substratum.
2. A soft floor covering that lies under a carpet.
3. Anything that is underlaid
4. (music) Lyrics; or more specifically, the way in which lyrics are assigned to musical notes.

   The underlay in bar 3 is unclear in Handel's manuscript.

Translations

soft floor covering under carpet

• Finnish: alusmatto (fi)

anything underlaid

• Finnish: alunen (fi), alusta (fi)

• Irish: foleagan (ga) m