• Below

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /bɪˈləʊ/
    • US IPA: /bɪˈloÊŠ/
    • Hyphenation: be + low

    Origin

    From Middle English bilooghe, from Middle English bi “by” + looghe “low”.

    Full definition of below

    Preposition

    1. Lower in spatial position than.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
    2. The treasure is buried two meters below the surface.
    3. Lower in value, price, rank or concentration than.
      • Addisonone degree below kings
      • 2013, Philip J. Bushnell, Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance, Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident. Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
    4. The temperature is below zero.
    5. Downstream of.
    6. South of.
    7. Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of; beneath.
      • John MiltonThey beheld, with a just loathing and disdain, ... how below all history the persons and their actions were.
      • Hallamwho thinks no fact below his regard
    8. Such petty behavior is below me.
    9. (stage directions) Downstage of.

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    Adverb

    below

    1. In a lower place.
      • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, But then I had the massive flintlock by me for protection. ¶...The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,....
    2. On a lower storey.
    3. Further down.
    4. (nautical) On a lower deck.
      the landlubbers lying down below
    5. (of a temperature) Below zero.

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