subunderstandv.
/ˈsʌbʌndəˌstand/, U.S. /ˈsəbˌəndərˌstænd/ transitive. To understand (something not directly expressed); to understand implicitly. In early use also with infinitive.
ΚΠ
1633 Bp. T. Morton Discharge Five Imputations sig. B3v The Booke (saith hee) will be answered (reserving in his minde) when yesterday shall be to morrow: &, a Iesuite hath it in hand (sub-understanding to burn it).
1652 F. Lodowyck Ground-work New Perfect Lang. 10 No distinction for Number is needfull to the Nouns Adjectives, for their number is sub-understood in the Substantives unto which they relate.
1716 M. Davies Crit. Hist. 77 in Athenæ Britannicæ III Their Master Blondel survening, and subunderstanding it.
a1770 J. Jortin Tracts (1790) II. 293 You must sub-understand caussâ, gratiâ.
1848 A. Steinmetz Hist. Jesuits II. 302 The words..were sub-understood amphibologically, or by equivocation.
1864 L. Wraxall tr. A. Esquiros Eng. at Home II. xiv. 322 It was sub-understood that this free choice would be submitted..to the approbation of the lord-lieutenant.
1977 J. M. Edie in J. N. Mohanty Readings on E. Husserl's Logical Investig. 143 Pure grammar establishes rules which are always subunderstood.
2002 K. Ghosh Wycliffite Heresy i. 61 Wyclif maintains that Christ's words should be ‘subunderstood’ in such a way that there is no contradiction.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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