countermine
See also: counter-mine
English
Etymology
Noun
countermine (plural countermines)
- A mine used by defenders to intercept an enemy mine or tunnel.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 436:
- Normally the threat would have been dealt with by means of a counter-mine, but the tunnel was now far too close for that.
- 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society 2010, p. 436:
- An underground gallery excavated to intercept and destroy the mining of an enemy.
- A stratagem or plot by which another stratagem or project is defeated.
- Sir Philip Sidney
- Thinking himself contemned, knowing no countermine against contempt but terror.
- Sir Philip Sidney
Verb
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- To plot opposition; to frustrate the initiatives of another.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter III, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI:
- […] every gamester will agree how necessary it is to know exactly the play of another, in order to countermine him.
- (transitive, intransitive) to sap hostile mining.
Synonyms
- (to plot opposition): counterplot