Meanings
present singular third person underfongs · participle present underfonging · participle past underfonged · past underfonged
- EarlyModernobsoleteTo seduce, entrap; surround, overcome.
And some by sleight he eke doth underfong.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC3 more examples
Thou..that by trecheree Didst underfong my lasse, to wexe so light.
1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLCThey haue towres upon them sixteene: mounts underfonging & enflancking them.
1599, T. Nashe, Lenten StuffeFor, time will underfong us; and our voice Woll woxen weake; […]
1614, J. Davies in W. Browne, Shepheards Pipe
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*underfą̄han“to receive, undertake”
- Old Englishunderfōn“to receive, undertake, accept”
- Middle Englishunderfongen
- Englishunderfong
From Middle English underfongen, underfangen, from Old English underfōn (“to receive, undertake, accept”), from Proto-West Germanic *underfą̄han (“to receive, undertake”). Cognate with Dutch ondervangen, German unterfangen.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
underfong. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underfong
“underfong.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underfong. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underfong,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underfong.
Source: underfong on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.