Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To undertake.
- To accept; receive.
- To insnare; entrap; deceive by false suggestions.
- To support or guard from beneath.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
undertake . - verb transitive, obsolete To
accept ;receive . - verb transitive, rare To
insnare ;entrap ;deceive by false suggestions. - verb transitive, rare To
support orguard from beneath.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English underfangen, underfongen, undervongen, from Old English underfōn ("to receive, obtain, take, accept, take in, entertain, take up, undertake, assume, adopt, submit to, undergo, steal"), from Proto-Germanic *under + *fanhanan (“to take, receive”), equivalent to under- + fang. Cognate with Dutch ondervangen ("to overcome, forestall"), German unterfangen ("to venture, dare").
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Examples
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“We were about to drill through the underfang palate to get an internal sample,” said one of the techs.
Jason Stoddard, Strange and Happy » Blog Archive » Eternal Franchise, 4.2 of 31.1 2009
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