Dictionary

undertow 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 tow English undertow From under- + tow.

Meanings

1. A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.
   • A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore.
2. (broadly) A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.

Forms

Relateds

rip current · riptide · undersuck

Translations (22)

pl podłoże emocjonalne (feeling) · fi aaltojen imu (flow of water) · pl prąd przeciwny podpowierzchniowy (flow of water) · es contracorriente (feeling) · it risacca (flow of water) · de Gegenströmung (flow of water) · mi miti (flow of water) · de Unterwasserströmung (flow of water) · fi paluuvirtaus (flow of water) · ca ressaca (flow of water) · fi pohjavire (feeling) · de hinausziehende Strömung (flow of water) · fi imu (flow of water) · fr reflux (flow of water) · ca contracorrent (feeling) · fr courant de retour (flow of water) · cmn 退波 (flow of water) · sh povratna morska struja (flow of water) · de Sog (flow of water) · is sog (flow of water) · es resaca (flow of water) · el αντιμάμαλο (flow of water)

undertow 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 tow English undertow From under- + tow.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
   • Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...] 1914, Denton Jaques Snider, Lincoln at Richmond:
2. (transitive) To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.
   • I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled. 2003, Michael T. Leibig, Mike Leibig Traveling in Disguise:
   • A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory. 1998, Richard Gough, David Williams, Ric Allsopp, Performance Research: On Place:
3. (intransitive) To flow or behave as an undertow.
   • Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins. 1917, The Unpopular review:

Forms