below

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See also: Below and bellow

English

Etymology

From Middle English bilooghe, equivalent to be- +‎ low. Compare also earlier Middle English alogh, alow, aloȝ, alowe (“below”) and benethen (“beneath”).

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 229: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bɪˈləʊ/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 229: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bəˈloʊ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: be‧low
  • Rhymes: -əʊ

Preposition

below

A square below a circle
  1. Lower in spatial position than.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
    The treasure is buried two meters below the surface.
  2. Lower in value, price, rank or concentration than.
    • (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      one degree below kings
    • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:
      Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
    The temperature is below zero.
  3. Downstream of.
  4. South of.
  5. Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of; beneath.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      They beheld, with a just loathing and disdain, […] how below all history the persons and their actions were.
    • (Can we date this quote by Hallam and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      who thinks no fact below his regard
    Such petty behavior is below me.
  6. (stage directions) Downstage of.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adverb

below (not comparable)

  1. In a lower place.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
  2. On a lower storey.
  3. Further down.
  4. (nautical) On a lower deck.
    the landlubbers lying down below
  5. (of a temperature) Below zero.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

Derived terms

Pages starting with “below”.

References

  • Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "The vertical axis", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Anagrams

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