Dictionary

underpeer en · VERB

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- Proto-West Germanic *pūrijan Old English *pȳran Middle English peren English peer English underpeer From under- + peer.

Meanings

1. (archaic) To look beneath something.
   • Midsommer pageants in London, where to make the people wonder, are set forth great and uglie gyants marching as if they were alive, and armed at all points, but within they are stuffed full of browne paper and tow, which the shrewd boyes, underpeering, do guilefully discover, and turne to a greate derision. 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, volume 3, page 128:

Forms