OE Beowulf (2008) 1656 Ic þæt unsofte ealdre gedigde wigge under wætere, weorc geneþde earfoðlice.

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 274 Subter aquam mersus est, under wætere he is besenced.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1551 Tu fullhtnesst hemm. & unnderr waterr dippesst.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvi. xxxii. 843 Vnder water þe bowes þeroff [sc. coral] ben white and neisshe, and waxen rede and tornen into stoon whan þey ben drawen out of þe water.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 85 A tempest..bare many shyppys wyth theyr apparayll vnder water brake theyr sternes and helmes [etc.].

1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xv. f. 190^v You shall see Them [sc. the Achaian cities] hidden vnder water, and the shipmen yit doo showe The walles and steeples of the townes drownd vnder as they rowe.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Sott'acqua, vnder-water.

1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith 229 Now the Helme is faulty, then the Cords are to be repaired, or the Anchor is broken, or she taketh in under-water, or the Sail is torn.

1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall 363 Cornelius Drebell..is affirm'd..to have contriv'd for the late Learned King James, a Vessel to go under Water.

1708 London Gaz. No. 4453/2 Our Governor has put all the Country between Bruges and Newport under Water.

1759 S. Johnson Idler 24 Mar. 89 The country was under water.

1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. xxiv. 620 Close the tube by the finger,..then open its aperture by removing the finger under water.

1880 Times 17 Sept. 8/5 Both corn and turnips are under water.

1909 Jrnl. N.Y. Bot. Garden 10 264 These two genera of submersed marine plants, that blossom and fruit wholly underwater.

1958 Newnes Compl. Amateur Photogr. 6 Nowadays the photographer can take his camera underwater, and record the life of the seabed.

1960 P. A. Crowl Campaign in Marianas 358 The abutting reef and the lagoon bottom were underwater at all times.

1992 Prediction May (Suppl.) 11/3 There was a flash-flood and, by 9am the next morning, the town was under water.

2009 J. A. Coyne Why Evol. is True ii. 41 Tiktaalik..still had internal gills for breathing underwater.

1600 W. Cornwallis Ess. I. xxx. sig. R8 There belonges to euery man that desires safety to make the things appertayning to him, correspondent with his fortune, otherwise like a barke ouersayled, he runnes him selfe vnder water, and sinckes.

a1626 L. Andrewes Morall Law Expounded (1642) vi. 747 He seeketh to discredit him, and to bring him low under-water.

1649 J. Collinges Cordiall for Fainting Soule ix. 165 His faith was under water more then his head.

1719 M. Shelton Hist. & Crit. Ess. Rise Nobility (ed. 2) vii. 527 He was once under Water, his Kingdom disposed of by new Entail upon the Heirs of the Duke of Clarence.

1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom II. liv. 169 He resolved to keep our adventurer's head under water, by maintaining him in the most abject dependance.

1816 W. Scott Old Mortality xiii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 275 And then he got favour, and Lord Evandale's head was under water.

1839 J. G. Lockhart Ballantyne-humbug 113 Mr. James [Ballantyne]..was..many thousands under water at the smash.

1886 Boston Daily Advertiser 28 Aug. 5/2 A firm which was a hundred thousand dollars under water might be carried along for years, and supposed by the community to be perfectly solvent.

1916 Boys' Life Dec. 66/3 Financially speaking, my head was under water.

1933 Bankers' Mag. Aug. 222/2 Last December the company was ‘under water’ to the extent of $11,750,000; now it shows a net worth of nearly $2,500,000.

1994 Denver Post 8 Feb. e3/1 Only a couple of years ago, Donald was under water—a discredited figure from the garish '80s.

2010 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 7 Aug. (Insight section) 1 A leader who is under water in the polls will be criticised for being heavily stage-managed if he stays on message.

1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) iv. G ij b Some from the rocke, some from the shore oppose, Vulteius found this vnder-water traine.

1674 W. Petty Disc. before Royal Soc. 117 The further Truth whereof doth appear in the Under-water-Air within the Vessels of Water-Divers.

1759 J. Hill Veg. Syst. V. 17 The Alpine Plants are common to the high mountains, and the underwater Plants to the deep Lakes.

1774 T. Harrington Sci. Improved i. 11 There are in it [sc. the ocean] under water Mountains and Vallies, Rocks and ridges of Rocks, as upon the Land.

1831 On Planting (Libr. Useful Knowl.) viii. 109/2 The wood..is esteemed for under-water-work, as piles, pipes, pumps, sluices.

1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Sept. 2/1 It is not sufficient to lay down the finest system of under-water mines.

1894 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 6/1 A new under~water vessel which might be either a gunboat or an ordinary cargo steamer.

1903 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 16 108 The mĭh'nĭ..is a mythological underwater monster, having the shape of a four-legged long-tailed reptile.

1916 Railway Rev. 10 June 850/1 For many years he held a leading place in the field of underwater engineering.

1936 Pop. Mech. July 7/2 An underwater suit..is kept warm by heated water supplied from the surface.

1962 N.Y. Times 2 Sept. x. 22 The long swimming pool..is equipped with underwater speakers that, most of the time, relay music to the bathers.

2007 G. Hurley One Under i. 3 Beneath him, he could see..a solitary clownfish drifting over the underwater meadows of softly waving fronds.

1852 G. Beadon Brit. Patent 1121 (1854) 1 The vessel is to be constructed with an under water bow of a conical form.

1876 Morning Post 5 Feb. 6/4 We can build around it..with an under-water deck of armour, analogous to that of the Inflexible.

1937 Pop. Sci. Monthly Jan. 26/1 For steering at high speeds, an airplane-type rudder supplements the conventional underwater rudder.

2010 Cornishman (Nexis) 25 Feb. 10 The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company painted the underwater hull of Scillonian III with a special anti-fouling paint.

1975 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 22 Oct. 32/6 Every foreclosure of an underwater real estate mortgage..is greeted with cheers. Evidence that the economy is doing less to help itself is taken as a guarantee that the Fed will do more.

1993 Univ. Pennsylvania Law Rev. 141 687 The holders of underwater equity may believe they can win a bigger distribution if they accept equity.

2014 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 23 Jan. b6 The company has earned plaudits for working with homeowners to make principal reductions for underwater loans, which are for more than the house is worth.

1959 Kiplinger's Personal Finance July 12/1 Water hobbies: shell hunting, collecting marine specimens,..playing underwater hockey, [etc.].

1980 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 30 Aug. 3/6 Underwater hockey is played with 10-inch long wooden paddles.., tapering from a hand-grip size to a slightly flared end which is cut to fit the round, lead puck.

2000 T. Jensen in J. Bowe et al. Gig 120 He plays something called underwater hockey on Friday nights.