Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A data-processing error arising when the absolute value of a computed quantity is smaller than the limits of precision of the computing device, retaining at least one significant digit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The water which is now known to be often in transit beneath the apparently dry gravels of rivers in arid districts, such as the southwestern United States.
  • noun A current flowing beneath the surface, or not in the same direction with the surface-current, over a certain region; an undercurrent: the opposite of surface-flow or surface-current.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun computing A condition in which the value of a computed quantity is smaller than the smallest non-zero value that can be physically stored; usually treated as an error condition
  • noun computing The error condition that results from an attempt to retrieve an item from an empty stack

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

under- +‎ flow, modelled on overflow.

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Examples

  • The Arkansas River was always the primary source of water for both the North and South Side systems, although the North Side briefly flirted with using the 'underflow' of Fountain Creek.

    EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed 2008

  • The Arkansas River was always the primary source of water for both the North and South Side systems, although the North Side briefly flirted with using the 'underflow' of Fountain Creek.

    EcoEarth.Info Environment RSS Newsfeed 2008

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Because I know that on the surface it runs directionally, but on the underflow, doesn't it travel further south from the U.S. toward the Caribbean nation?

    Assessing The BP Spill's Impact 2010

  • Make no mistake of it, we are in for a turbulent ride down a waterfall, and at the bottom is death by drowning in the underflow and hydraulic suction seen only a few times throughout HisStory.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008

  • There was a problem in awk once, that Bell Labs room numbers like 1E-230 would cause a floating point underflow.

    I hate hate hate hate the new SiteMeter. Ann Althouse 2008

Comments

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  • Ye olde bit box slang for a call to a empty buffer.

    October 26, 2008