understepping

Verb

understep (third-person singular simple present understeps, present participle understepping, simple past and past participle understepped)

1. Not to go as far as a boundary or limit.
   • The Questers were many, and fortunately the Answerer did not too often overstep or understep the mark.1897, Boot and Shoe Recorder - Volume 30, page 28
2. To take a step that is not far enough forward.
   • As an instance of this inability to control the muscles well, may be cited the almost constant tendency to understep or overstep especially with the fore legs.1907, University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus). Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report - Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station
3. To have a gait in which the hind foot touches the ground behind the point where the front foot touches the ground.
   • As a general rule, a stag treads more cleanly than a hind, his stride is longer, the slot itself being rounder and less elongated ; while a hind or young stag understeps frequently, leaving in consequence a more or less double track.1932, Douglas Gordon, Field Philosophy, page 187

See all 8 meanings of understep