undersay
verb/ʌndə(ɹ)ˈseɪ/
Etymology From under- + say.
1
Obsolete To say by way of derogation or contradiction.
- They say, they con to heaven the highway; But by my soul I dare undersay, They never set foot on that same troad, But balke their right way, and strayen abroad.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
2
To understate.
- My words undersay it, of course; I mean something rarer than critical, something better than ethical, and perhaps I had better retreat upon such a word as spiritual.1899, W.D. Howells, “The New Poetry”, in The North American Review, volume 168, page 586:
- How to undersay things when so many oversay them is one thing learnt.1913, Laurence Jerrold, The French and the English, page 60:
1 more example
- Try not to overqualify or undersay what you have to say.1981, Patricia A. Moody, Writing Today: A Rhetoric and Handbook, page 120: