undergrowthn.
/ˈʌndəɡrəʊθ/, U.S. /ˈəndərˌɡroʊθ/ 1.
a. A growth of plants or shrubs under trees or other tall vegetation; brushwood, underwood.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > plants collectively > [noun] > growing beneath trees or undergrowth
weedOE
undergrowth1600
underwood1867
undermath1881
understorey1945
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > brushwood, scrub, or underwood
ronea1300
underwooda1325
rammel1338
brushetc1380
scroga1400
bushailec1400
frithing1429
brushal1430
brushc1440
ronec1440
thevec1440
garsil1483
shroga1500
cablish1594
south-bois1598
undergrowth1600
frith1605
hand timber1664
subbois1664
urith1671
brushwood1732
bush-wood1771
underbrush1775
slop1784
woodiness1796
scrub1805
shag1836
chaparral1845
underbush1849
underscrub1870
sand-brush1871
buck-brush1874
bush1879
horizontal scrub1888
tangle-wood1894
shin-tangle1905
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vi. x. 744 There must good regard be taken euery where, what plants of branches or vndergrowth are dead.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 175 The undergrowth Of shrubs and tangling bushes. View more context for this quotation
1794 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Cambr. 117 In this parish is found some very good woodland..; the undergrowth is cut once in fourteen years.
a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. P. Calderon Scenes from Magico Prodigioso in Posthumous Poems (1824) 363 This intricate wild wilderness of trees..and undergrowth of odorous plants.
1884 Queen Victoria More Leaves 308 The tangled undergrowth of fern, &c. is almost like a jungle.
b. The shorter stems of certain cultivated plants.
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the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > [noun] > cultivated or planted > shorter stems of
undergrowth1765
1765 Museum Rusticum 4 457 What is commonly called under-growth [of flax], may be neglected as useless.
1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 July 5/2 Much of what farmers call the under-growths or under-stems of wheat are not coming into ear at all.
2. A growth of (shorter and finer) hair or wool underlying the outer fur or fleece.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > coat > hair, wool, or fur > outer layer of fur > layer of wool or fur beneath outer layer
undergrowtha1642
underwool1939
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 22 Such sheepe as have theire wooll thus risen have without question a goode undergrowth.
1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 709/1 This undergrowth [of the Cashmere goat]..is beautifully soft and silky.
3. The condition of being undergrown or undersized; imperfect growth.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > [noun] > imperfect development
untowardness1538
agenesis1827
stasimorphy1869
achondroplasia1888
undergrowth1891
infantilism1895
ateleiosis1902
1891 Lancet 14 Mar. 624/2 Cases of heart disease,..of undergrowth, and underdevelopment.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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