underdrift

underdrift adjective: having the gearing that turns the millstone beneath the floor.

Adjective

underdrift (not comparable)

Having the gearing that turns the millstone beneath the floor.
- The overdrift method in smock mills may be seen at Punnetts Town, and the underdrift at Shipley.1979, Martin Brunnarius, The windmills of Sussex, page 11
- In an overdrift mill this gear is mounted on the quant, in an underdrift mill on the stone spindle.1996, Richard Leslie Hills, Power from Wind: A History of Windmill Technology, →ISBN, page 298

underdrift (plural underdrifts)

An underlying meaning that is not made explicit.
- Now, Lydia, looking two ways, seemed to see double, but even she did not discover the subtle underdrift which gave this poem a distinct meaning for two persons.1875, Ann Sophia Stephens, Bertha's Engagement, page 348
- Paris then stands for art, for merriment, for laughter, music and song ; and, forgetting the pathetic underdrifts, we look with eager eyes on the bright examples which reach us from her salons and parlors, ...1903, American Printer and Lithographer - Volume 36, page 446
Synonym of undertow.
- This alone, except the underdrift from breakers, brings new materials to form an original deposit in the sea.1903, Henry Woodward, Geological Magazine, page 13
- It was last decided to throw down breakwaters altogether, which lets the wind and the waves riot at their will, save only as dredges may plow furrows through the underdrift, to pass like children's markings on a beach.1907, Lindon Wallace Bates, Retrieval at Panama, page 74
Synonyms:

undertow

Both tragedies are carried on a strong underdrift of sex, but in the second play the sex impulse, though it works, has lost its charm.1969, David Grene, Aeschylus, page 28:
This underdrift, a mode of speech in which the words that constitue conversation are only tenuously connected to a deeper layer, is a significant feature of Indian speech.1985, J. Beer, A Passage to India: Essays in Interpretation, →ISBN, page 65:
...accordingly, the underdrift landwards has not so great a transporting power: wind-effect varies according to its direction, strength, and duration.1923, Institution of Municipal Engineers (Great Britain), Journal - Volume 50, page 507:
No doubt the dark blind underdrifts were always at the beck and call of the terrible windlass winding the waters down.1966, David Gill, Men Without Evenings, page 37:

plural	underdrifts

From under- + drift.

What does underdrift mean?: Underdrift means having the gearing that turns the millstone beneath the floor.
How do you use underdrift in a sentence?: Both tragedies are carried on a strong underdrift of sex, but in the second play the sex impulse, though it works, has lost its charm.
What part of speech is underdrift?: Underdrift can be an adjective or a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: underdrift (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underdrift.wav.

Cite this entry: “underdrift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underdrift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.