underlay

Academic Word List, sublist 6.

About 0.55 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. verb simple past of underlie
2. verb To lay (something) underneath something else; to put under.

   We underlaid the carpet with felt.

3. verb To provide a support for something; to raise or support by something laid under.

   to underlay a cut, plate, or the like, for printing

4. verb To put a tap on (a shoe).
5. verb To incline from the vertical.
6. noun A layer (of earth, etc.) that lies under another; substratum.
7. noun A soft floor covering that lies under a carpet.
8. noun Anything that is underlaid.

Similar words

underlayment carpet pad rug pad origin underlied underlayer underput undergird underlap underplant

Often followed by

the his all this it their them and of

Word family

underlaid underlaying underlays underlie underlies underlying