Definition of "under"

The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets.

1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960,

Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess‎

Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. […] Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28

There is general agreement that his military forces were organized into six divisions. They were stationed at the following places: at Ti-hua under the command of Liu Hsi-tsen, at T'a-ch'eng under Chiang Sung-lin, at Ili under Niu Shih, at A-shan under Wei Chen-kuo, at A-k'o-su under Chang Tzu-t'ing, and at Ko-shih-ko-erh (Kashgar) nominally under Tsou-ying, but in reality under Chin's brother, Chin Shu-chih.

1987, Arthur C. Hasiotis, Jr., Soviet Political, Economic, and Military Involvement in Sinkiang from 1928 to 1949‎, Garland Publishing, page 62

He was then denied by a magnificent tackle from captain Terry as Liverpool continued to press - but Chelsea survived as the memories of the nightmare under Villas-Boas faded even further into the background.

2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎

Dati launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, François Fillon, under whom she served as justice minister, accusing him of sexism, elitism, arrogance and hindering the political advancement of ethnic minorities.

2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in Guardian‎

England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.

2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France‎

J.K. Rowling has written a crime novel called 'The Cuckoo's Calling' under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

2013, The Huffington Post, JK Rowling Pseudonym: Robert Galbraith's 'The Cuckoo's Calling' Is Actually By Harry Potter Author‎

The minstrel fell, but the foeman's chain / Could not bring his proud soul under.

1825, Thomas Moore, The Minster Boy

The advantages he gains are of double security to him ; first, by the support of his haunches, being at all times more under than before, he learns to be more active with his hind-quarters

1835, J G. Peters, A treatise on equitation, or the art of horsemanship, page 179

If you allow the right hand to turn under more than the left, a pull will result, and if the left is more under than the right, a sliced ball will surely follow.

1908, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, The American golfer, volumes 1-2, page 10

The waves are so steep, they crash so fast and furious I'm more under than up.

2009, Doris Lessing, Briefing for a Descent Into Hell, page 30

I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1 Corinthians ix:27

When ready for sea we went up to Greenhithe, that their lordships might inspect us, and then to Portsmouth, to take troops to Cork, a pleasant trip; but the troops left us a legacy of "mahogany flats," with which their beds were so swarming that we never got them under.

1892, Sir George Giffard, Reminiscences of a Naval Officer, page 45

[…] standard cash count forms used to record the count and any overs or unders.

2008, G. Puttick, Sandy van Esch, The Principles and Practice of Auditing, page 609