undersong

Noun

undersong (plural undersongs)

1. An accompanying sound or strain; an accompaniment.
   • Accept the Off'ring I at diſtance bring, / With Harp ill-tun'd, and long thro' Age unſtrung, / Fit only to fill up ſome Under-ſong!1702, Sam[uel] Woodford, “In Sacred Memory of the Very Reverend Author of the Following Work, Joseph Beaumont, S.T.P. &c. To Psyche.”, in Joseph Beaumont, edited by Charles Beaumont, Psyche, or...
   • But th’ unceasing rill
     To the soft Wren or Lark’s descending trill
     Murmurs sweet undersong mid jasmin bowers.1795, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Epistle IV: To the Author of Poems”, in Poems on Various Subjects, London: G.G. and J. Robinsons, published 1796, page 127
2. (figuratively) Subordinate and underlying idea, meaning or atmosphere; undertone.
   • Defective however and faulty must be the composition in prose, which you and I with all our study and attention cannot understand. In poetry it is not exactly so: the greater part of it must be intelligible to all: but in the very best there is often an undersong of sense, which none beside the...1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation VI. Æschines and Phocion.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 77
   • The mad smouldering lust which gives a sort of under-song of surging passion to the sophisticated sensuality of “Salome” …1916, John Cowper Powys, “Oscar Wilde” in Suspended Judgments, New York: G. Arnold Shaw, p. 410
3. (obsolete) The burden of a song; the chorus; the refrain.
   • It is not hard to observe that David’s Allelujahs are more then his Hosannas; his thanks more then his suits. Oft-times doth he praise God when be begs nothing: seldome ever doth he beg that favour for which he doth not raise up his Soul to an anticipation of Thanks: neither is this any other then...1625, Joseph Hall, “A Sermon of Publick Thanksgiving”, in The Contemplations upon the History of the New Testament, volume 2, London, page 252
   • The Challenge to Damætas ſhall belong / Menalcas ſhall ſuſtain his under Song: / Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring; / In turns the tuneful Muſes love to ſing.1697, Virgil, “The Third Pastoral. Or, Palæmon, Menalclas, Damætas, Palæmon.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob...