Underlie

Part of speech: noun (n.)

See Underlay, n., 1.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To lie under; to rest beneath; to be situated under; as, a stratum of clay underlies the surface gravel.

2. To be at the basis of; to form the foundation of; to support; as, a doctrine underlying a theory.

3. To be subject or amenable to. [R.] The knight of Ivanhoe . . . underlies the challenge of Brian der Bois Guilbert. Sir W. Scott.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To lie below or under.