undervoice

Noun

undervoice (plural undervoices)

1. A low or quiet voice.
   • Her sensations were indefinable, and so were they a few minutes afterwards upon hearing Henry Crawford, who had a chair between herself and Tom, ask the latter in an under voice whether there were any plan for resuming the play after the present happy interruption […]1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 40
   • Brayder introduced them to one or two of the men, hastily and in rather an undervoice, as a thing to get over.1859, George Meredith, chapter XXXVI, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC

Verb

IPA/ˌʌndə(ɹ)ˈvɔɪs/

undervoice (third-person singular simple present undervoices, present participle undervoicing, simple past and past participle undervoiced)

1. (transitive) To voice too weakly.
   • Consequently, the danger for Dutch learners of English is undervoicing the English lenis fricatives rather than the reverse.1984, Beverley Collins, Inger Margrethe Mees, The Sounds of English and Dutch, page 51
2. (transitive) To make a quieter or background sound beneath.
   • Undervoicing the flame, there was the popping of hollow weed stalks, the tinkle of woody stems crisping and falling in coals.1902, Martha McCulloch-Williams, Next to the Ground: Chronicles of a Countryside, page 74