sublineation

Noun

sublineation (usually uncountable, plural sublineations)

1. (usually) A line drawn underneath text; an underline.
2. (usually) The act of underlining.
3. (usually) A system of forming kinship groups that subdivide a major lineage into subgroups of more closely related individuals.
   • At that time, before sublineation had become significant for the local group, banishment would have amounted to dismissing a troublesome individual and his wife and children, rather than an entire sublineage consisting of several families ...1961, Louis C. Faron, Mapuche Social Structure, page 97
   • The larger the lineage, as a general rule, the more segmented it becomes. Sublineation, on the other hand, depends exclusively on the size and "antiquity" of the lineage.1968, Hugo G. Nutini, San Bernardino Contlá, page 148
4. (usually) lineation due to the accumulation of matter in cavities beneath the surface.
   • There have been a great many theories as to why the zinc is deposited on and alloyed with the metal treated, but I think that the theory of sublineation is possibly the one most correct.1915, Monthly Review - Volumes 2-4, page 33
   • These uplands are still growing, and comparatively young, but their nature points to past sublineation of thick accumulations of sediment, from abundant sources, and therefore active volcanicity1992, Anshu K. Sinha, Himalayan orogen and global tectonics, page 290
5. (usually) A branch of philosophy concerned with understanding of language.
   • Philosophy interested him, and I found my own education improving with Socrates' as he led me deeper and deeper into mazes of idealism, epistemology and sublineation.1954, Judith Merril, Selections from Beyond Human Ken, page 182