underpinning

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English

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Verb

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underpinning

  1. present participle and gerund of underpin

Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

underpinning (plural underpinnings)

  1. A support or foundation, especially as a structure of masonry that supports a wall.
    This house's underpinning is not up to standard.
    • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 319:
      Released were two singles that went nowhere fast; the third, "Early Morning Love" (#68, 1974), was a teasing male fantasy with a folkie feel and countrified pedal-steel guitar underpinnings.
  2. (figurative) A basis for something.
    I would like to know more about the underpinning of this political theory.
  3. (figurative, humorous) The lower body or legs.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”
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Translations

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