FromMiddle Englishbenethe, fromOld Englishbineoþan(“beneath, under, below”), equivalent tobe- +neath. Cognate withLow Germanbenedden(“beneath”),Dutchbeneden(“beneath, under, down”), obsoleteGermanbenieden(“below”).
beneath
- Below orunderneath.
2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, inThe Economist[1], volume407, number8835, page80:Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the landbeneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
beneath
- Below.
c.1606 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene iii]:Our country sinksbeneath the yoke.
- 1718,Alexander Pope, epitaph toNicholas Rowe
- Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies.
1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividlybeneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
- In a position that is lower in rank, dignity, etc.
Their despicable behaviour isbeneath contempt.
- a. 1730,Francis Atterbury, inThe Grub-Street Journal, Volume 1
- He will do nothing that isbeneath his high station.
- Covered up orconcealed by something.
