Underfang

Alternative forms

• underfong

Origin

From Middle English underfangen, underfongen, undervongen, from Old English underfōn ("to receive, obtain, take, accept, take in, entertain, take up, undertake, assume, adopt, submit to, undergo, steal"), from Proto-Germanic *under + *fanhaną ("to take, receive"), equivalent to - + fang. Cognate with Dutch ondervangen ("to overcome, forestall"), German unterfangen ("to venture, dare").

Full definition of underfang

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To undertake.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To accept; receive.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To insnare; entrap; deceive by false suggestions.
• 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.2:For that he is so puissant and so strong,
  That with his powre he all doth overgo,
  And makes them subject to his mighty wrong;
  And some by sleight he eke doth overfong.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To support or guard from beneath.