underpoint

English

Etymology

under- +‎ point

Noun

underpoint (plural underpoints)

1. A downward facing point on the underside.
   • 1867, F. W. Devey, Speculations on a Method of extinguishing Fires without Water, page 44:

     An object appears to present a difficulty to a flame that cannot surround it, or approach the so doing. This a mere upper-surface ignited affords little prospect of doing, an undersurface much more, an under edge still more, and an underpoint (never mind Euclid's definitions) again still more, being capable of being nearly surrounded by the smallest flame.

   • 1884, Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, page 331:

     Every workman who filed the teeth had the model of a perfect tooth with him and was told to file the tooth to the shape of the underpoint of a man's little finger.

   • 1937, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Do Or Die: A Supplementary Manual on Individual Combat:

     Then he straightens up his right arm, which he swings quickly as a pivot to speed a left hand punch which travels from below the outside of his slightly bended left knee to the underpoint of the opponent's chin.

2. (music) The lowest intensity point of a diminuendo that is followed by an increase in volume and intensity.
   • 1966, Bonnie C. Kowall, Perspectives in music education, source - Book 3, page 151:

     In larger dimensions, recurrent formulas, articulation, and phrase structure become important, and it may be possible to abstract various general curve types by studying the location of peaks and underpoints.

   • 1987, Tzong-Kai Kuo, Chiang Wen-yeh:

     Since his dynamic changes follow the development of the intensity of the music, they often indicate the direction of emotional movement to the climax or underpoints.

   • 1992, Jan LaRue -, Guidelines for Style Analysis, page 177:

     In skillful fugues the heightening tension of contrapuntal development finds confirmation in peaks and underpoints, dissonance quotient, and expansion or compression of tessitura, as well as other less direct sources of stress such as the largely intellectual pleasure of increasingly sophisticated and arcane manipulations.

3. The number of scored points below a specified criterion.
   • 1943, Dale Adams, Fun with Cards, page 69:

     If either player overcounts or undercounts his hand (or crib or play), after he has finished pegging the wrong number, not before, the opponent may say, "Muggins," show him the error, have him peg correctly, and then add to his own score the number of overpoints or underpoints.

4. Something that calls attention to or emphasizes a particular conclusion within a topic of discussion.
   • 1975, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates:

     I appreciate the comments by the distinguished Senator from Idaho. Mr. President, just a couple of more underpoints.

   • 2000, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, Pros and cons of drug legalization, decriminalization, and harm reduction:

     With your permission, Mr. Chairman, he has brought some of his kids here, and they may sort of provide an underpoint, if I could ask them to stand up.

Adjective

underpoint (not comparable)

1. Below the point (any sense)
   • 1917, Holstein-Friesian World - Volume 14, page 2834:

     The wheat farmer, the corn farmer, the livestock farmer, all are receiving high prices for their produce. Until October 1917, the dairyman was distinctly underpoint.

   • 1941, Printing Equipment Engineer - Volumes 61-63, page 56:

     The Johnstone Fourteen is similar to the Twelve except that boards up to Bearings of sealed slitters and underpoint springs of the tool steel slitter lever.

   • 1951, Deere & Company, The Operation, Care, and Repair of Farm Machinery:

     The plow bottom is led into the ground and held to its work by the underpoint suction of the share.

Verb

underpoint (third-person singular simple present underpoints, present participle underpointing, simple past and past participle underpointed)

1. To add a dot beneath a letter as a proofreading or diacritical mark.
   • 1948, Urban Tigner Holmes, Mediaeval studies in honor of Jeremiah Denis Matthias Ford:

     Curiously, he does not underpoint letters to indicate deletion or insert letters above the line; he simply tries again.

   • 2007, Andrew Wawn, Graham Johnson, John Walter, Constructing Nations, Reconstructing Myth, page 147:

     One might disagree with the emendation, but that is beside the point: it would be inapposite to retain oftost and simply underpoint the first t, since the change presumably introduced by the scribe is not a mere alteration of form but a misapprehension, and this should be signalled by emendation and the use of italics.

   • 2008, R.D. Fulk, Robert E. Bjork, John D Niles, Klaeber's Beowulf, →ISBN:

     Klaeber's practice varies: he underpoints the inflectional vowel in bonan OngenÞēoẹs 1968^a, but in oððe him OngenÞeowes 2475^a he leaves off the macron and, evidently, assumes resolution.

2. To emphasize or call attention to a point within a discussion.
   • 1953, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor, Strikes and Racketeering in the Kansas City Area:

     I would like to underpoint that. Your statement is that your local in the heavy construction as contrasted to the other construction, is not on strike against anybody?

   • 1977, Outposts - Issues 112-115, page 38:

     I see a man who struggles for identity”: these lines underpoint the theme of this long poem which might be more effective without the “bondage of Rhyming”—to quote William Blake.

   • 1984, John Gerald Greene, The Social and Psychological Origins of the Climacteric Syndrome:

     This again underpoints the vulnerability of climacteric women.

3. (masonry) To point the underside.
   • 1891, Carpentry and Building - Volume 13, page 37:

     When the plates are firmly secured to the walls with the proper wall anchors all the interstices between the wedges should be underpointed with mortar.

   • 1933, Surveyor - Volume 84, page 318:

     The most suitable material has proved to be the seconds or thirds types of Welsh slate laid on stout battens and well underpointed in haired mortar, gauged with cement.

   • 1938, The Architect & Building News - Volume 153, page xlv:

     Pantiles made from Bridgwater Clay must not be torched or underpointed, but the roof should be boarded and felted, battened and counterbattened.

4. To include too few points.
   • 1977, The Excavating Engineer - Volume 71:

     This gives us a good idea of how much water is down there and how many well-points we need to dewater the area,” Huber explains. “On our projects. we always try to overpoint rather than underpoint.

5. To indicate or focus on a position closer than the one that is intended.
   • 1947, The Extrinsic Eye Muscles, page 52:

     If the patient then attempts to fix with the good eye, it will underpoint.