Definition of "under" [un•der]

• In a lower position or place than: a rug under a chair. (preposition)
• To or into a lower position or place than: rolled the ball under the couch. (preposition)
• Beneath the surface of: under the ground; swam under water. (preposition)
• Beneath the assumed surface or guise of: traveled under a false name. (preposition)
• Less than; smaller than: The jar's capacity is under three quarts. (preposition)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "So that is the reason why I look under my bed every night, to see if anybody is hid away there; because the very idea of having a man _under_ a body's bed, is so awful!"
• "The provost, desiring to guard them from the danger of infection, published an order that all persons of both sexes, suffering under certain specified maladies, should quit the capital in twenty-four hours, _under the penalty of being thrown into the river_!"
• "-- The reservatory clause proposed in our Memorial is what is usual in royal grants; and in the present case, the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council, we hope, will be of opinion, it is quite sufficient, more especially as we are able to prove to their Lordships, that there are no "possessions," within the boundaries of the lands under consideration, which are held "_under legal titles_.""