α. 1600s– subterranean.
β. 1600s subterranian.
subterraneanadj.n.
/ˌsʌbtəˈreɪnɪən/, U.S. /ˌsəbtəˈreɪniən/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of a physical phenomenon, force, movement, etc.: operating or performed below the surface of the earth; occurring underground.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [adjective] > subterranean > operating
subterranean1603
subterraneous1625
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1190 The casting up aloft into the aire of stones & cinders by subterranean windes [Fr. par vents soubterrains] under the earth.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 231 When the force Of subterranean wind transports a Hill Torn from Pelorus. View more context for this quotation
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 141 A kind of Natural Gunpowder, which, taking fire,..occasions..that subterranean Thunder.
1707 G. Miège Present State Great Brit. II. iii. 35 Mountains are the Repositories of Minerals, in whose Cavities the Subterranean Fire matures them.
1786 T. Baldwin Airopaidia xxxxiv. 187 The Lake, which continued liquid without Ice: owing, perhaps, in Part, to subterranean Heat, and Exhalations.
1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. Pref. p. viii All rocks or strata have been either formed or consolidated by central subterranean fire.
1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 585 The same localities..were during later periods influenced by more gradual and continual subterranean expansion.
1877 T. H. Huxley Physiography 186 This region is peculiarly subject to subterranean disturbances.
1926 Science 16 July 68/2 The subterranean forces, which have acted..to disturb the landmasses, may well be assigned to..energy set free in the rocks beneath the Atlantic basin.
1960 Times 31 May (S. Afr. Suppl.) p. xviii/1 That was a ‘bump’, a subterranean movement caused mainly by the settling of strata disturbed by mining activity.
2006 Focus Nov. 51/3 Fault-block mountains..develop when cracks form in the Earth's crust and subterranean pressure forces some blocks of rock downwards and others upwards.
b. Of an inanimate object: existing, lying, or situated below the surface of the earth; formed or constructed underground, either naturally or by human activity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [adjective] > subterranean
subterraneal1592
under-earth1592
under-earthly1605
subterranean1607
subterraneous1607
subterrene1610
underground1610
subterrestrial1613
subterrane1614
subterrany1626
sotteran1648
subterrenean1653
subterrean1659
mediterraneous1668
hypogeal1686
submundane1805
subsurface1840
hypogeous1847
hypogean1852
below ground1859
catachthonic1884
catachthonian1888
the world > space > relative position > low position > [adjective] > situated or placed under > below the ground
lowc1350
subterraneal1592
under-earth1592
under-earthly1605
subterranean1607
subterraneous1607
subterrene1610
subterrestrial1613
subterrane1614
subterrany1626
sotteran1648
subterrenean1653
hypogeal1686
hypogeous1847
hypogean1852
below ground1859
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 126 The Sea-calfes hid in the Subterranean Rocks.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 95 [The Caspian Sea] has no..entercourse with any Sea, except (as is credible) it be subterranean, into the Euxine.
1687 W. D. tr. B. Le Bovier de Fontanelle Disc. Plurality of Worlds 46 The Subterranean Rome was almost as big as Rome above the Earth.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 31 July (1837) II. 72 I was..led into one of the subterranean apartments, which they called The Stables of the Elephants.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives II. 6 Examine their palaces, their basins of porphyry, urns and vases of Numidian marble, catacombs, and subterranean cities.
1835 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 4) IV. 6 The relative date of rocks formed in the subterranean regions during the Newer Pliocene ages.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 316 In 1685 the tin of Cornwall..was still one of the most valuable subterranean productions of the island.
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 647 Subterranean streams, which have their rise in hills and mountains, and are fed, like the surface-rivers, by the rains and snows.
1877 J. Northcote Catacombs i. v. 71 The ceilings of their subterranean chapels.
1925 G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man i. i. 26 A priest and a boy entered sometime ago a hollow in the hills and passed into a sort of subterranean tunnel that led into a labyrinth.
1976 N. Maclean River runs through It 89 The voices of the subterranean river in the shadows were different from the voices of the sunlit river ahead.
2008 New Scientist 8 Nov. 8/1 Many of these subterranean reservoirs straddle international borders.
c. Of a tree, forest, etc.: buried in the soil or other deposits in a fossilized or otherwise preserved form. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > characterized by habitat > [adjective] > buried in the earth
subterranean1610
subterraneous1673
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 747 Their further inquiery, whether there are not Subterranean trees growing under earth.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth ii. 112 The Trees which are commonly called Subterranean Trees, or Fossil Wood, and which are found in great plenty buried amongst other Vegetable Bodies in Mosses, Fens, or Bogs.
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. 259 By Ligna, 'tis most probable the Author intends the Subterranean Trees.
1813 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. 11 On the coast of Lincolnshire and part of Yorkshire there is a subterranean forest about seventeen feet under the present high-water mark.
1842 C. Lyell Let. 30 July in Life, Lett. & Jrnls. (1881) II. 65 This subterranean forest exceeds in extent and quantity of timber all that have been discovered in Europe put together.
1914 J. R. Green Hist. Bot. 166 He had the assistance of Richardson,..the author of a memoir on subterranean trees or fossil wood.
2004 M. Freeman Victorians & Prehistoric 142 Antiquaries likewise thought of the subterranean trees as having been lodged at the time of the Flood.
d. Of a person, animal, etc.: living or working underground.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > [adjective]
subterranean1638
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in relation to habitat > [adjective]
fieldya1382
waterya1382
agrestial1608
subterranean1638
lucifugous1654
nemoral1656
subcutaneous1664
subterraneous1832
subtidal1852
xylophilous1862
xerophilous1863
acid-loving1870
aerobic1878
aerobian1879
aerobious1879
aerobiotic1880
subaquatic1880
aerophilous1885
facultative1887
pelagic1887
aerophile1888
autotrophic1893
heterotrophic1893
plastic1893
thermophilic1894
thermophil1896
mesophilic1897
halolimnic1898
polybathic1898
tolerant1898
limnetic1899
thermophilous1899
metatrophic1900
mixotrophic1900
paratrophic1900
mesophilous1901
benthic1902
epibenthic1902
eurybathic1902
microaerophilic1903
sympatric1904
benthoal1905
cryophile1907
benthonic1909
microaerophile1909
lenitic1916
lotic1916
psychrotolerant1924
oligosaprobic1925
polysaprobic1925
aerophilic1929
saprobic1932
primary1934
lentic1935
chemoautotrophic1936
eurytopic1937
psammic1938
saprotrophic1942
prototrophic1946
chemolithoautotrophic1949
auxotrophic1950
chemolithotrophic1953
chemoorganotrophic1953
opportunist1956
psychrophile1956
psychrophilic1958
opportunistic1960
psychrotrophic1960
oligosaprobe1990
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > miner > [adjective]
subterranean1753
subterraneous1773
1638 C. Aleyn Hist. Henrie VII 53 Or like the Mines which as Olaus writes, Have for their Guardians Subterranean sprites.
1661 J. Howell Twelve Several Treat. 50 Ther were subterranean invisible troups (at Ragland Castle) mustered under-ground in Wales.
1681 Heraclitus Ridens 26 Apr. 2/1 These fruitful Meadows came to be stock'd and under-run with those subterranean Inhabitants, vulgarly called Moles.
1730 T. Fuller Exanthematologia i. 85 Yet Worms, Moles, and the Subterranean Animants, may be so framed by Nature, as to breathe best in such an Air.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison VI. ix. 32 They have..given a face of religion to subterranean colliers, tinners, and the most profligate of men.
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals II. 420 Baron Humboldt has given an account of a wonderful eruption of subterranean fishes.
1883 Cent. Mag. Jan. 456/1 This purblind, shovel-footed, subterranean dweller, this metaphysician of the earth, groping his way along in the open daylight.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 838 We do not perhaps realize the number and variety of subterranean animals, living like sappers and miners out of sight.
1999 D. Cruise & A. Griffiths Working the Land ii. 90 Heat from the houses slowly melts the ice supporting the buildings, causing them to sink as if a herd of voracious subterranean termites had been munching away at the foundations.
e. Botany. Of a plant, part of a plant, fungus, etc.: growing under the surface of the ground.Also in the names of plants, often translating the specific epithet subterraneum (cf. subterranean clover n. at Compounds).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > [adjective] > growing underground (of plant or part)
subterraneous1673
subterranean1776
1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. Great Brit. II. 454 Subterranean Trefoil. Heads woolly; five flowers in each: with a bushy substance in the middle.
1789 W. Aiton Hortus Kewensis III. 39 Subterranean Lathyrus, or Earth-pea.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §70 Stems have been divided into aerial, or stems which appear wholly or partially above ground; and subterranean, or those which are entirely under ground.
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 349 The subterranean shoots of the rhizome.
1914 Times 8 June 17/5 Many species of truffle, a subterranean fungus shaped like a small tuber, are used for food, and are considered great delicacies.
1936 W. Stiles Introd. Princ. Plant Physiol. xiii. 289 The subterranean organs themselves are sometimes roots, but in other cases true roots are absent.
2009 B. Laws Field Guide to Fields iv. 82/1 In the potato field the soil is mounded up around the plant to provide space for the subterranean tuber to multiply.
2. Existing, belonging to, or characteristic of hell or the underworld; infernal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [adjective]
nethereOE
hellena1225
infernalc1374
infern?a1513
hellish1530
helly1532
Avernal?1548
hellic1566
subterrestrial1592
Plutonic1596
Acherontic1597
Plutonical1599
Stygian1601
subterranean1603
Plutonian1604
Acherontical1610
subterraneous1631
subterraneal1643
Tophetical1684
pandemoniac1793
submundane1805
subterrene1809
netherworld1828
pandemonic1833
Acheronian1849
transacherontic1854
Avernian1864
trans-Stygian1899
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 854 Saturne..is reputed a Subterranean or terrestriall god.
1619 A. Gorges tr. F. Bacon Wisedome Ancients 156 He [sc. Pluto] caught vp Proserpina..and caried her away with him in his Coach to the Subterranean dominions.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1645 (1955) II. 372 The Celestial, Terrestrial & Subterranean Deities.
1772 P. Stockdale tr. L. Bos Antiq. Greece i. ii. 15 Their deities of the infernal regions were termed..Subterranean gods.
a1806 S. Horsley Serm. (1816) II. xx. 176 The consolation which the preaching of our Lord in the subterranean regions afforded to these prisoners of hope.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. i. i. 7 And ye, as subterranean Apparitions are wont, vanish utterly,—leaving only a smell of sulphur.
1898 H. L. Stern Gods of our Fathers iv. 64 She leaves her subterranean kingdom in her omnivorous love of killing, and..stalks over the earth in the form of pestilence.
1915 J. Bryce et al. Bk. of Hist. V. 2100/1 In consequence of the division of Ra's subterranean dominions into twelve sections..the dead..could unfortunately enjoy the sight of the god, the sun, for only one hour.
1959 E. Connell Mrs. Bridge xcviii. 206 She brooded, eventually reaching the conclusion that if super-celestial ideas were necessarily accompanied by subterranean behavior it might be better to forego them both.
1998 E. Yamauchi in R. N. Longenecker Life in Face of Death v. 40 The pre-Zoroastrian traditions held that the ‘soul’ lingered for three days before departing to a subterranean kingdom of the dead.
3. figurative. Existing or working out of sight or secretly; clandestine, hidden.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > stealthy action, stealth > [adjective]
privyc1230
thiefly1395
stalkinga1400
slyc1440
insidious1545
clanculary1563
hedge-creeping1579
thievish1587
sneaking1590
tiptoe1593
peaking1595
underworking1605
stealthya1616
subtlea1616
surreptitious?1615
clancular1621
stealthful?1624
insidiary1625
worming1631
subterranean1643
clancularious1656
hugger-mugger1692
slink1792
slinking1841
instealing1844
thief-like1847
furtive1859
1643 H. Parker Contra-replicant his Compl. 14 Subterranean plots are brooded further in the dark, and by privie intellgence, the whole City of London is to be engaged in a tragicall conspiracy, to murder it selfe in one night.
1651 J. Jane Εικων Ακλαστος 230 They never pretended priviledge of Parliament further then the subterranean junto.
1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino vii. 16 Secret Mines, and subterranean Schemes, Are laid to force the Nation to Extremes.
1808 J. Adams Let. 7 Nov. in Corr. (1823) xiv. 44 The subterranean intrigues as well as the overt acts must be developed and described.
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic III. vi. i. 392 His subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy.
1892 H. Caine Scapegoat (ed. 5) xxvi. 295 The entire town..was honeycombed with subterranean revolt.
a1918 R. S. Bourne Hist. Literary Radical (1956) 92 A young Modernist priest..gave me a sense of that vast, subterranean, resistless, democratizing and liberalizing movement in the Church.
1985 P. W. On & C. H. Persell in P. W. Cookson & C. H. Persell Preparing for Power viii. 160 Drug deals in prep schools require extensive subterranean webs of affiliation among students.
2003 G. Newton From Victoria to Viagra (Wellcome Trust) 14/2 Machines like the EEG..were portrayed in the press as ‘electric confessionals’, revealing subterranean desires and attractions which the subject never knew that he or she possessed.
B. n.
1. A person or creature living underground.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant by type of accommodation > [noun] > cave-dweller
troglodyte1555
troglodytan1607
subterranean1631
caveman1706
cave-dweller1865
trog1965
1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes i. vi. 44 in Wks. II Her Graces Grandfather, Was Duke, and Cousin to the King of Ophyr, The Subterranean.
a1692 R. Kirk Secret Commonw. in M. Hunter Occult Lab. (2001) iii. 81 These Subterraneans eat but litle in their dwellings.
1782 J. Elphinston tr. Martial Epigrams 503/2 The inhabitants were truly Cimmerian; as miners, or other subterraneans; who, for good or evil purpose, never faced the sun.
1833 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Loire 61 An anecdote..will convey a better idea..of the habitations and manners of the subterraneans.
1864 T. L. Nichols 40 Years Amer. Life II. x. 157 They were also called Subterraneans, either because they held their meetings in a cellar, or because most of them lived in cellars or garrets.
1916 E. S. Ellis & A. R. Keller Hist. German People I. xiv. 351 The 'subterraneans' in the hills and mountains of Lower Germany, and the numerous dwarfs with their kings.
1988 M. Moorcock Mother London i. 18 He first went down several years ago in search of legendary subterraneans.
2007 P. Sanderson Marvel Comics Guide to New York City 167 These caverns are populated by various races of Subterraneans, humanoid creatures that were genetically engineered by the Deviants.
2.
a. An underground chamber, cave, dwelling, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun] > cave
covec950
denOE
cavec1220
rochea1300
spelunk13..
cavernc1374
cabin1377
speke1377
antruma1398
minea1398
thurse-house?c1450
crypt?a1475
vault1535
chamber1575
antre1585
underground1594
Peak1600
lustre?1615
open?1644
cunicle1657
subterranean1714
subterrane1759
loch1767
purgatory1797
vug1818
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > cave or underground dwelling
earth houseeOE
cavec1220
bikea1522
mattamore1695
subterranean1714
subterrane1759
yurt1780
weem1792
subterrene1793
ice cave1810
gibber-gunyah1847
dugout1855
fogou1864
abri1887
pit house1907
1714 A. Boyer tr. A. Hamilton Mem. Life Count de Grammont i. 6 Those furious Storms..confine the Governor within his Subterraneans.
1797 W. Godwin Let. 12 June in C. K. Paul William Godwin (1876) I. 259 We proceeded to about the middle of the subterranean.
1836 N. Wiseman 12 Lect. Sci. & Relig. II. 146 The hypogeæ, or subterraneans of Eilithyia.
1856 J. H. Newman Callista 258 The passage..was only one of several natural subterraneans..opening into each other.
1886 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. & Hist. Fine Arts 2 93 Some years ago Com. de Rossi identified some subterraneans excavated under the Vigna Carcano..as the cemetery of Felicita.
1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New 66 Prue found an ample subterranean, neatly furnished.
1993 E. Pauli Golden Bk. of Florence 10 (caption) Two stretches of the walls of the old Cathedral of S. Reparata in the subterraneans of the Duomo.
b. figurative. In plural. Depths. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > extension downwards or depth > [noun] > great or considerable depth > deep place, part, or thing
piteOE
bottomOE
swallowa1100
profundity?a1425
abysmc1475
bisme1483
gulfa1533
abyss1538
fathom1608
profound1640
a well of a1843
subterranean1912
1912 Eng. Rev. Dec. 27 Down into subterraneans within myself that were positively frightening.
3. An inhabitant of hell or the underworld; an infernal being. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > inhabitant of
infernal1582
urchin1583
subterranean1773
pandemonian1795
1773 J. Stonhouse Universal Restitution Vindicated i. iii. 10 The Ancients..say..hither the Wicked are cast down... The Subterraneans shall bow the Knee to Jesus.
1836 I. Taylor Physical Theory of Another Life xvi. 219 That very ancient, and may we not say biblical classification of all intelligent orders, under the three heads of celestials, terrestrials, and subterraneans.
1844 J. Leitch tr. C. O. Müller Introd. Sci. Syst. Mythology xiv. 244 The pure god..was thrust down into the infernal world... He was doomed to serve the king of the subterraneans.
1965 Arion 4 671 Olympian gods, of whom the most prominent are Zeus, the Muses, and Aphrodite; other remote gods, whom we might loosely term Subterraneans, such as Tartarus, Styx and Hades.
Compounds
subterranean clover n. a European clover, Trifolium subterraneum, whose fruiting heads bury themselves in the ground, and which has been naturalized as a weed of pastures in Australia.
ΚΠ
1858 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora 168 Subterranean Clover. Trifolium subterraneum, Linn... A small, prostrate annual, more or less clothed with long spreading hairs.
1908 J. J. Ward Life Hist. Familiar Plants xiii. 157 The Subterranean Clover..only bears some two or three flowers in each head, and consequently has to take great care of its pods.
2002 L. Rombough Grape Grower iv. 64/2 If water conservation is a consideration, there are plants like subterranean clover that bloom in spring..then die off in the summer, when water is less available.
subterranean geography n. the geography of the subterranean world or underworld; (knowledge of) the structure, position, etc., of underground rock formations (cf. geognosy n. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > [noun] > science or subject of
subterranean geography1624
non-natural1696
supernaturalism1796
supranaturalism1821
hypophysicsa1834
hyperphysics1855
preternaturalism1864
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geology > [noun]
subterranean geography1749
geology1788
geognosy1792
geognosis1810
1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) iii. iv. i. iii. 523 Purgatory, Limbus patrum, infantum, and all that subterranean Geography.
1749 D. W. Linden Let. 18 Aug. in Three Lett. Mining & Smelting (1750) 15 Thus single Veins and Beds of particular Minerals are examined in Mineralogy, but in Subterranean Geography we must not stop here, all Mineral and Metalline Rakes of whole Mountains, comes under our Inspection.
1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. i. 114 Upon this supposition, when we see an uniformly regular surface, we might expect that the subterranean geography would also be regular.
1864 G. P. Marsh Man & Nature vi. 535 Schmidl has spent years in studying the subterranean geography and hydrography of this singular district.
1908 Geogr. Jrnl. 32 79 Geology also throws the only light on subterranean geography.
2010 S. Berry Emperor's Tomb xliv. 222 He'd studied the subterranean geography and knew that the fissures there ran deep—earthen channels through which pressurized oil could easily move upward.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1603