underlie

verb

Etymology: From Middle English underlien, underliggen, from Old English underliċġan (“to underlie, to be subject to, give way to”), equivalent to under- + lie. Cognate with Dutch onderliggen (“to lie below, lie on the bottom of”), German unterliegen (“to lie under, be subject to, succumb”).

1. To lie in a position directly beneath something.
2. To lie under or beneath.

   “A stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel.”

3. To serve as a basis of; form the foundation of.

   “a doctrine underlying a theory”

   “[…] she was carved into the bole of a red cedar tree. Sun and storm had bleached the wood, moss here and there softened the crudeness of the modelling; sincerity underlay every stroke.”

4. To be subject to; be liable to answer, as a charge or challenge.

   “The knight of Ivanhoe […] underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert.”

5. To underlay.