underlay
noun
- layer of cushioning material under a carpet or other soft flooring
verb
- put something under or beneath
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈʌndəɹˌleɪ/ / /ʌndəɹˈleɪ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English underlay, underlei, equivalent to under- + lay.
- A layer (of earth, etc.) that lies under another; substratum.
- A soft floor covering that lies under a carpet.
- Anything that is underlaid.
- A piece of paper pasted under woodcuts, stereotype plates, etc. in a form, to bring them up to the necessary level for printing.
- Lyrics; or more specifically, the way in which lyrics are assigned to musical notes.
“The underlay in bar 3 is unclear in Handel's manuscript.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English underleyen, from Old English underleċġan (“to underlay, prop, support”), equivalent to under- + lay. Cognate with Dutch onderleggen (“to lay or put under”), German unterlegen (“to underlay”), Swedish underlägga (“to underlay”).
- To lay (something) underneath something else; to put under.
- To provide a support for something; to raise or support by something laid under.
“to underlay a cut, plate, or the like, for printing”
- To put a tap on (a shoe).
- To incline from the vertical.