underdo

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to do less than is needed, expected, or possible; especially, to cook insufficiently

   Importers may overdo their orders in one season and underdo them in the next.

2. 2
   verb

   archaic: to put beneath or subject to authority

   The older text uses underdo for placing one thing beneath another.

From Middle English underdon and Old English underdon ('to put under'), formed from under + do. The modern sense was renewed through the productive contrast with overdo and is especially familiar in underdone food.

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