underdrain

American  

[uhn-der-dreyn, uhn-der-dreyn] / ˈʌn dərˌdreɪn, ˌʌn dərˈdreɪn /

noun

1. a drain placed beneath the surface of cultivated fields, streets, etc.

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verb (used with object)

1. to equip or supply with an underdrain or underdrains.

underdrain British  

noun

1. a drain buried below agricultural land

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verb

1. to bury such drains below (agricultural land)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underdrainage
  noun

Etymology

Origin of underdrain

First recorded in 1795–1805; under- + drain

Example Sentences

The best way to cure your spot is to run an underdrain into it, if possible, so the rain-water can run through the soil freely and take the alkali with it.

From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)

We must underdrain all the land we cultivate, that Nature has not already underdrained, and we shall cease complaints of the seasons.

From Farm drainage The Principles, Processes, and Effects of Draining Land with Stones, Wood, Plows, and Open Ditches, and Especially with Tiles by French, Henry F. (Henry Flagg)

Still, the importance of draining can not be doubted: the best results follow its use, and he who would reap the best harvests, and attain the highest success, will underdrain his land.

From American Pomology Apples by Warder, J. A.

I would urge no farmer to plunge up to his neck into debt in order to underdrain his farm.

From What I know of farming: a series of brief and plain expositions of practical agriculture as an art based upon science by Greeley, Horace

The best way undoubtedly is to underdrain the land, and then to distribute the sewage on the principle of intermittent downward filtration.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 484, April 11, 1885 by Various