Dictionary

understage en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

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- English stage English understage From under- + stage.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, of machinery etc) underneath the stage

understage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

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- English stage English understage From under- + stage.

Meanings

1. The area beneath a stage.
   • dozens of strapping stage-hands in the understage manipulating warships, cannons dispatching balls of fire, blue smoke. 2001, Augusto Boal with Adrian Jackson and Candida Blaker, Hamlet and the baker's son: my life in theatre and politics:
   • The understage being only 9 feet (5 braccia) high, the mountain had to rise in telescoping stages 1996, James M. Saslow, The Medici wedding of 1589: Florentine festival as Theatrum Mundi, page 86:
   • When deep pits, required in the understage for the machinery and traps, cannot be drained on account of insufficient depth of the street sewer 1900, William Paul Gerhard, Theatres: Their Safety from Fire and Panic, Their Comfort and Healthfulness, page 97:

Forms

understage en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

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- English stage English understage From under- + stage.

Meanings

1. To underestimate the severity of a patient's illness

Forms

Relateds

overstage