Definition of "underlay" []

• To put (one thing) under another. (verb-transitive)
• To provide with a base or support. (verb-transitive)
• Printing To raise or support (the level of a bed) by inserting a piece of paper or other material under the type. (verb-transitive)
• Something, such as felt under a carpet, that is underlaid. Also called underlayment. (noun)
• Printing Paper or other material used to underlay. (noun)

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.

• "He liked to idealize whatever tacit or explicit bargain underlay his relationships with Bubi and Walter (eventually Otto in "The Nowaks") and finally Heinz, with whom the writer exchanged rings and went on the run once Hitler clamped down and the German draft law threatened to scoop the boy into the army or prison."
• "His eyes glittered at that, and a mercenary expression underlay the tone of his answer."
• "The same thought which is expressed in Solomon's fuller phrase underlay the expression, -- _He_ dwelt 'not in temples made with hands' but His"