undercroftn.
/ˈʌndəkrɒft/, U.S. /ˈəndərˌkrɔft/, /ˈəndərˌkrɑft/ The crypt of a church; an underground vault or chamber. In early use apparently limited to the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral.
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society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > crypt > [noun]
undercroft1395
crowd1399
vaultc1400
shrouds1550
crypta1563
crypt1583
grot1658
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room by situation > [noun] > underground room or cellar
undercroft1395
vault1396
cellar?a1400
siler1548
crypta1563
hypogee1656
hypogeum1706
souterrain1733
favissa1736
cellar room1743
undervaulting1823
serdab1842
semi-basement1905
dunny1906
1395 in J. W. Legg & W. H. St. J. Hope Inventories of Christchurch, Canterbury (1902) 99 Prope altare beate Marie dicte ecclesie Cant. in Criptis que under croft vulgariter nuncupatur.
1601 F. Godwin Catal. Bishops of Eng. 50 The monkes..buried it [the body] immediately in the vnder~craft.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 202 This murdered Bishop was buried first in the vndercroft of the Church.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 213.
1640 W. Somner Antiq. Canterbury 175 Let me now leade you to the Undercroft. A place fit..to keepe in memory the subterraneous Temples of the Primitives in the times of persecution.
1772 S. Denne & W. Shrubsole Hist. Rochester 61 From this chapel you descend into the under croft.
1790 T. Pennant Of London 330 This undercroft, as these sort of buildings were called, had in it several chauntries and monuments.
1839 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 2 250/1 The body of the church might be made to stand upon an under~croft.
1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason xv. 295 Now went those maids, groping with outstretched hand Betwixt the pillars of the undercroft.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest III. xiii. 292 A vaulted undercroft supported the hall.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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