I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for
Tobiah.
Neh. xiii. 7.
Un`der*stand"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being understood; intelligible.
Chillingworth.
Un`der*stand"er (?), n. One who understands, or knows by experience.
[R.] Dryden.
Un`der*stand"ing, a. Knowing; intelligent; skillful; as, he is an
understanding man.
Un`der*stand"ing, n. 1. The act of one who understands a thing, in any
sense of the verb; knowledge; discernment; comprehension;
interpretation; explanation.
2. An agreement of opinion or feeling; adjustment of differences;
harmony; anything mutually understood or agreed upon; as, to come to an
understanding with another.
He hoped the loyalty of his subjects would concur with him in the
preserving of a good understanding between him and his people.
Clarendon.
3. The power to understand; the intellectual faculty; the intelligence;
the rational powers collectively conceived an designated; the higher
capacities of the intellect; the power to distinguish truth from
falsehood, and to adapt means to ends.
There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty them
understanding.
Job xxxii. 8.
The power of perception is that which we call the understanding.
Perception, which we make the act of the understanding, is of three
sorts: 1. The perception of ideas in our mind; 2. The perception of the
signification of signs; 3. The perception of the connection or
repugnancy, agreement or disagreement, that there is between any of our
ideas. All these are attributed to the understanding, or perceptive
power, though it be the two latter only that use allows us to say we
understand.
Locke.
In its wider acceptation, understanding is the entire power of
perceiving an conceiving, exclusive of the sensibility: the power of
dealing with the impressions of sense, and composing them into wholes,
according to a law of unity; and in its most comprehensive meaning it
includes even simple apprehension.
Coleridge.
4. Specifically, the discursive faculty; the faculty of knowing by the
medium or use of general conceptions or relations. In this sense it is
contrasted with, and distinguished from, the reason.
I use the term understanding, not for the noetic faculty, intellect
proper, or place of principles, but for the dianoetic or discursive
faculty in its widest signification, for the faculty of relations or
comparisons; and thus in the meaning in which "verstand" is now
employed by the Germans.
Sir W. Hamilton.
Syn. — Sense; intelligence; perception. See Sense.
Un`der*stand"ing*ly, adv. In an understanding manner; intelligibly;
with full knowledge or comprehension; intelligently; as, to vote upon a
question understandingly; to act or judge understandingly.
The gospel may be neglected, but in can not be understandingly
disbelieved.
J. Hawes.
Un`der*state" (?), v. t. To state or represent less strongly than may
be done truthfully.
Un"der*state`ment (?), n. The act of understating, or the condition of
being understated; that which is understated; a statement below the
truth.
Un`der*stock" (?), v. t. To supply insufficiently with stock. A. Smith.
Un`der*stood" (?), imp. & p. p. of Understand.
Un"der*strap`per (?), n. A petty fellow; an inferior agent; an
underling.
This was going to the fountain head at once, not applying to the
understrappers.
Goldsmith.
Un"der*strap`ping, a. Becoming an understrapper; subservient. [R.]
Sterne.
Un"der*stra`tum (?), n.; pl. L. Understrata (&?;), E. Understratums
(&?;). The layer, or stratum, of earth on which the mold, or soil,
rests; subsoil.
Un`der*stroke" (?), v. t. To underline or underscore. Swift.
Un"der*stud`y (?), v. t. & i. (Theater) To study, as another actor's
part, in order to be his substitute in an emergency; to study another
actor's part.
Un"der*stud`y, n. One who studies another's part with a view to
assuming it in an emergency.
Un"der*suit` (?), n. A suit worn under another suit; a suit of
underclothes.
Un`der*tak"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being undertaken; practicable.
Un`der*take" (?), v. t. [imp. Undertook (?); p. p. Undertaken (?); p.
pr. & vb. n. Undertaking.] [Under + take.] 1. To take upon one's self;
to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to
set about; to attempt.
To second, or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt.
Milton.
2. Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay
one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform
or to execute; to covenant; to contract.