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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Undergird

Undergird \Un`der*gird"\, v. t. To blind below; to gird round the bottom.

They used helps, undergirding the ship.
--Acts xxvii. 17.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
undergird

1520s, from under + gird (v.). Related: Undergirded; undergirding.

Wiktionary
undergird

vb. 1 To strengthen, secure, or reinforce by passing a rope, cable, or chain around the underside of an object. 2 To give fundamental support; provide with a sound or secure basis; provide supportive evidence for. 3 To lend moral support to. 4 To secure below or underneath.

WordNet
undergird
  1. v. lend moral support to

  2. make secure underneath; "undergird the ship" [syn: brace up]

  3. [also: undergirt]

Usage examples of "undergird".

But the feared violence of the Cold War could be defined by nothing so rational as the later political radicalism, for a kind of moral anarchy had come to undergird the East-West standoff, even if we could not openly see it as such.

Hundreds of archaeological findings from the first century have been unearthed, and I was curious: did they undermine or undergird the eyewitness stories about Jesus?

I was curious: did they undermine or undergird the eyewitness stories about Jesus?

I can muster for the fundamental notions of fixity that regulate and undergird ordinary perception and thinking.

What seems to undergird this body of work is a conviction that our episodes of upheaval have a special graphic character and can be represented in painting, lithograph, and woodcut.

Club a refutation of the business model that undergirds Wal-Mart and its warehouse club unit alike?

Instantly the comm system, the whole bridge, was flooded with panicked voices, undergirded by other voices working to stay calm and dispense orders.

Throughout the thirties, forties, and fifties it drew a steady and devoted readership and served as a reliable expression of the substance that undergirded Plains Indian religious beliefs.

The tears started again, this time undergirded by ball-shriveling maternal fury.

Our entire capitalistic system is based on economic freedom and market economies and is undergirded by the very cornerstone of capitalism: private property.

She felt a nice appearance would lend credence to her tale, undergirded by the photos.

The factual undergirding is documented in the Notes, some of which unveil new historical data.

The splash of light illuminated the undergirding of the belfry and cupola.

They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property.

The factual undergirding is documented in the Notes, some of which unveil new historical data.