underdraw

American  

[uhn-der-draw] / ˌʌn dərˈdrɔ /

verb (used with object)

underdrew, underdrawn, underdrawing

1. to line the underside of (a structure, as a floor) with plasterwork, boarding, or the like.

---

Etymology

Origin of underdraw

First recorded in 1790–1800; under- + draw

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

underdrawing underdrawn

They lack underdrawing, and no preliminary sketches survive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

To guide her strokes, she constantly looked down at her cellphone screen, following Vasari’s preparatory underdrawing, which had been obtained by electronic scans.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2016

In fact, Smith had already been considering the idea of fresco as a conceptual framework for a book; the notion of the underdrawing of the image being a presence beneath the surface, unseen yet present.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2015

Viewers may notice that the penciled underdrawing is exposed here and there, and that the bands of gold fleurs-de-lis near the bottom edge of the cans are irregularly stamped, not painted.

From New York Times ● May 7, 2015

Evidence found in the imagery and the underdrawing, the sketch beneath the painting, has led him to conclude that Michelangelo painted it in 1506, two years before he began work on the Sistine ceiling.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 14, 2010

Palmer’s Em, meanwhile, is a ball of energy and hustle and is equally compelling, though, again, slightly underdrawn.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 20, 2022

Veronica Falcón plays Perry’s lover, Lupe, a tough, business-minded aviator and one of several intriguing but underdrawn female characters.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2020

The possibilities are intriguing, but the characters are underdrawn, and the pacing lags.

From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2017

The character felt underdrawn to me, too willing to be a victim.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 24, 2015

The hall is now divided into two rooms, lined with good Jacobean panelling, and its fifteenth-century roof underdrawn by plaster ceilings.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.] A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by Massé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)