undergrounder

See also: under-grounder

English

WOTD – 27 August 2008

Alternative forms

• under-grounder

Etymology

From underground +‎ -er (Variety “-er”) or +‎ -er (occupational suffix).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʌn.dəˈɡɹaʊn.də/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌʌn.dɚˈɡɹaʊn.dɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: un‧der‧ground‧er
• Rhymes: -aʊndə(ɹ)

Noun

undergrounder (plural undergrounders)

1. An underground publication or movie.
   • 1957, Manny Farber, "Underground Films", in Robert Walsh (ed.) Negative Space: Manny Farber on the movies (1998), p. 27,

     The excess that is so noticeable in Stevens's brawl is absent in the least serious undergrounder, […]

   • 1985, Abe Peck, Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press, p. 51,

     Street people, day-trippers, and tourists pushed the paper's circulation to 117,000, the largest any community undergrounder would reach.

2. A person who dwells underground.
   • 2017, Stephen Pimpare, Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens, page 227:

     […] sewer people, derelicts, bag ladies, undergrounders, and Bowery bums. Whatever the cause of their illness, as in Scanners, homeless people are victims but, more importantly, a threat to be eliminated.

3. One who is part of a secret or underground society or subculture.
   • 1985, Robert Vincent Daniels, chapter 7, in Russia: The Roots of Confrontation, →ISBN, page 167:

     His tactics appealed to the type of Old Bolshevik undergrounder who had little patience with theoretical hairsplitting and who looked to a firm authority to take the lead in practical work.