| 释义 |
underˈpinning, vbl. n.
[f. as prec.]
1. The action of supporting or strengthening a building, etc., from beneath. (See underpin v. 1.)
1489in Dugdale Monast. (1821) III. 359/2 Paid for a grounsell for the kechyn wall and for underpynnyng and leiyng in of the same, xv d. 1493–4Rec. St. Mary at Hill 198 Payd for vndyrpynyng of Mastres Atclyffe ys pewe, vj d. Ibid., Payd..for vndyrpynny[n]g of þe newe pewys. 1528MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Paid to a tyler for stanchonyng, dobyng, & vnderpynnyng of the store house. 1707Mortimer Husb. 304 Underpinning for the Bricklayer to dig the Foundation..is a Penny a foot. 1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss. 1049. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 267 Underpinning, building up the walling of a pit-shaft to join that above it.
2. a. The materials or structure used for giving support to a building from beneath.
1538Elyot, Substructio, vnderpynnynge or groundyng of a house. 1601Holland Pliny II. 575 When Cambyses..burnt all before him, as farre as to the very foundation and underpinning of the Obeliske. 1668Wilkins Real Char. 256 Foundation,..Base, Bottom, fundamental, underpinning. 1741Phil. Trans. XLI. 852 [The houses] were all, in a manner, rocked quite off from their Underpinnings. 1789Massachusetts Spy 16 July 3/4 A new frame of a barn, uncovered,..was taken by a whirlwind from its underpinning. 1894Howells Traveller fr. Altruria 112 The sod was backed up against the wooden under-pinning.
b. fig. A support or prop.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 3 They are like to daunce after his pipe, and set themselues vpon a miry pinne,..till his vnderpinning will faile him, I doubt. 1656Artif. Handsom. 71 Those grosse Solœcismes of Art, which by unseasonable..affectations (as so many pitifull props and underpinnings) strive in vain to skrew and set up lapsed and tottering age. 1774Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 160 That this house..is itself held up only by the treacherous under-pinning and clumsy buttresses of arbitrary power. a1894in Sunday Reform Leaflets (Columbus) Sept. 6 The moral underpinning requisite to sustain the superstructure of man's rights.
c. spec. (U.S. slang), the legs. Chiefly in pl. Cf. underpinner2.
1848E. Bennet Mike Fink 9/2 Nothing like long under-pinins fur travel. 1895N.Y. Dramatic News 5 Oct. 6/1 Do cigarette girls at work wear their dresses decollete at the bottom and show their underpinning? 1934A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 48 There he was at last with his underpinnings shot from under him. 1974R. B. Parker God save Child (1975) xiii. 95, I learned Vic's technique for developing ‘sinewy and shapely under⁓pinnings’. |