underdrain

American  

[uhn-der-dreyn, uhn-der-dreyn] / ˈʌn dərˌdreɪn, ˌʌn dərˈdreɪn /

noun

1. a drain placed beneath the surface of cultivated fields, streets, etc.

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verb (used with object)

1. to equip or supply with an underdrain or underdrains.

underdrain British  

noun

1. a drain buried below agricultural land

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verb

1. to bury such drains below (agricultural land)

Other Word Forms

• underdrainage noun

Etymology

Origin of underdrain

First recorded in 1795–1805; under- + drain

Example Sentences

First, if your land has not a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat.

From Soil Culture by Walden, J. H.

I would urge no farmer to plunge up to his neck into debt in order to underdrain his farm.

From What I know of farming: a series of brief and plain expositions of practical agriculture as an art based upon science by Greeley, Horace

The writer has seen a six-inch underdrain running full of ground water collected within a distance of a hundred feet, but this was in gravel soil through which the water passed very freely.

From Rural Hygiene by Ogden, Henry N. (Henry Neely)

In clay soils the underdrain is not necessary.

From Rural Hygiene by Ogden, Henry N. (Henry Neely)

"Do you think it is profitable to underdrain land?" is a question a thousand times asked, and yet is a question that admits of no direct general answer.

From Farm drainage The Principles, Processes, and Effects of Draining Land with Stones, Wood, Plows, and Open Ditches, and Especially with Tiles by French, Henry F. (Henry Flagg)