undertow verb 3noun 2forms 3 verb3 •To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...] — 1914 •To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory. — 1998 •To flow or behave as an undertow.Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins. — 1917 noun2 •A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore. •A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one. formsundertowed · undertowing · undertows
