understory

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English[edit]

WOTD – 5 June 2023

Etymology[edit]

PIE word
*h₁n̥dʰér
The understory (sense 2) of a rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico.

From under- (prefix meaning ‘beneath, under’) +‎ story (“a floor or level”).[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

understory (plural understories or (rare) understorys) (chiefly American spelling)

  1. (architecture, dated, also figuratively) A story of a building below the stories generally used for residence or work.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Building. XLV.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 263:
      On the Vnder Story, tovvards the Garden, Let it be turned to a Grotta, or Place of Shade, or Eſtiuation.
    • 1760, Richard Pococke, quotee, “Art. VI.—The Annals of Banff. Compiled by William Cramond, M.A., LL.D. Printed for the New Spalding Club. Aberdeen, 1893. [book review]”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume 186, number 371, London: John Murray, […], published July 1897, →OCLC, page 155:
      The two middle storeys of the towers are adorned with one tier of Corinthian pilasters in the style of Lord Carlisle's house at Castle Howard. The understorey is rustic.
    • 1785, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, “Thursday, 26th August [1773]”, in The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 122:
      Elgin has vvhat in England are called piazzas, that run in many places on each ſide of the ſtreet. […] I approved much of ſuch ſtructures in a tovvn, on account of their conveniency in vvet vveather. Dr. Johnſon diſapproved of them, "becauſe (ſaid he) it makes the under ſtory of a houſe very dark, vvhich greatly over-balances the conveniency, vvhen it is conſidered hovv ſmall a part of the year it rains; […]"
    • 1793 November 19, John Hill Blanchard (recorder), quoting William Middleton (witness), Trial of Robert Watt, for High Treason, before the Court, under the Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer, Held at Edinburgh. […], Edinburgh: […] William Brown, […], published 1795, →OCLC, page 131:
      Q. VVhat did you find? / A. I found in a cloſet in the under ſtorey of VVatt's houſe a dozen of ſpears.
    • 1828, Reginald Heber, “Buxar to Benares”, in Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824–1825, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 265:
      The banqueting-house is a very striking and beautiful building in the form of a cross, open every way, and supported by a multitude of pillars and arches, erected on an under-story of an octagonal form.
    • 1838, J[ames] A[ugustus] St. John, “Preliminary Discourse”, in Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Utopia: or, The Happy Republic. A Philosophical Romance, by Sir Thomas More. To which is Added, The New Atlantis, by Lord Bacon. […], London: Joseph Rickerby, […], →OCLC, page lii:
      Besides, to the vulgar it is more agreeable to behold difficulties overcome, than to examine laboriously all the complicated machinery by which the effect is produced. They lack the patience to learn in detail the name and office of each wheel, and pulley, and spring, hidden in the understorey of politics, by which the beautiful results they contemplate on the surface of society are originated, and pronounce insipid every attempt to introduce them to their knowledge.
    • 1881, David Macrae, “The Lightning City”, in The Americans at Home: Pen-and-ink Sketches of American Men, Manners, and Institutions, revised edition, Glasgow: John S. Marr & Sons, →OCLC, page 346:
      The stone foundation is generally in the form of an under[-]story. Sometimes a dwelling-house is lifted, and shops put in below. I was told of a congregation in a city which, being in want of money, had their church lifted so as to allow of the insertion of shops beneath, got these let, and speedily relieved the church from its embarrassments.
  3. (ecology, also attributively) The (layer of) plants that grow in the shade of the canopy of a forest above the forest floor.
    Synonyms: underbrush, undergrowth
    Antonyms: overstorey, overstory
    • 1971, Kenneth B[railey] Cumberland, “Climatic Change or Cultural Interference? New Zealand in Moahunter Times”, in S. R. Eyre, editor, World Vegetation Types (Geographical Readings), London: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 219:
      Throughout the pre-European tussock grassland, and more especially in gullies, on terrace edges and wherever the surface configuration of the plains was broken, woody plants occurred, including occasionally surviving residues of podocarp forest understoreys.
    • 1986, Erle Bourke, “Forestry”, in Victorian Year Book 1986, number 100, Melbourne, Vic.: Victorian Office, Australian Bureau of Statistics, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 222–223:
      The very tall trees and dense understorey of shrubs and ferns found in ash forests provide magnificent scenery, and afford an excellent habitat for well known wildlife species, such as lyrebirds, possums, and wallabies.
    • 1994, Ian G. Read, “The Classification of Vegetation”, in The Bush: A Guide to the Vegetated Landscapes of Australia, Sydney, N.S.W.: University of New South Wales Press, →ISBN, part 2 (The Structural Formations of Australia’s Vegetation), page 28, column 1:
      In order to further narrow down the field of formation types reference is now made to the type of understorey that is found beneath the crowns or canopies of the dominant plants.
    • 1997, Michael G. Shelton, Paul A. Murphy, “Methods”, in Understory Vegetation 3 Years after Implementing Uneven-aged Silviculture in a Shortleaf Pine-oak Stand (Research Paper; SO-296), Asheville, N.C.: Southern Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, pages 1–2:
      The understory was mainly composed of regeneration of the more shade-tolerant species and a variety of common shrubs, such as buckleberries (Vaccinium spp.) and hawthorns (Crataegus spp.).
    • 1999, Ernest Small, Paul M. Catling, “Oplopanax horridus (J. E. Smith) Miq. Devil’s Club”, in P. B. Cavers, editor, Canadian Medicinal Crops, Ottawa: NRC Research Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 103, column 2:
      This species is found in both maritime and continental climates. It is a dominant component of understorys of various Pacific northwest and western boreal forests, often forming dense, nearly impenetrable pure thickets, but also occurring in some understorys with other shrubs and (or) herbaceous plants.
    • 2003, Howard S. Neufeld, Donald R. Young, “Ecophysiology of the Herbaceous Layer in Temperate Deciduous Forests”, in Frank S. Gilliam, Mark R. Roberts, editors, The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 38:
      Light availability is the primary limiting resource for understory plants of eastern deciduous forests, and their long-term persistence in these habitats depends on adaptations that enable photosynthesis sufficient to maintain a positive annual carbon balance […]. However, in addition to low light, understory plants may also be limited by water stress […].
    • 2011, David B. Lindenmayer, “What Makes a Good Remnant?”, in What Makes a Good Farm for Wildlife?, Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 24:
      An understorey is typically defined as the vegetation layer between the ground layer (up to approximately one metre) and the overstorey. Some woodland vegetation types support only a sparse understorey.
    • 2012, Mark S. Ashton, Mary L. Tyrrell, Deborah Spalding, Bradford Gentry, editors, Managing Forest Carbon in a Changing Climate, Dordrecht, South Holland, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 94, column 1:
      In the absence of fire, oaks do not establish well in either shaded understorys or sunlit openings, because they are neither shade tolerant nor fast growing […].
    • 2020, Lorinda A. Hart, “Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea Scopoli, 1786)”, in Colleen T. Downs, Lorinda A. Hart, editors, Invasive Birds: Global Trends and Impacts, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Boston, Mass.: CABI, →ISBN, page 66, column 1:
      In Hawaii, Red-billed Leiothrix were 92% more abundant in discontinuous forest that had dense understoreys with abundantly fruiting bushes as opposed to continuous forest with bare understoreys […].

Alternative forms[edit]

Translations[edit]

story of a building below the stories generally used for residence or work

References[edit]

  1. ^ “understorey, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “understorey, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

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