undertow

verb 3noun 2

Definitions

verb

1

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, [...]

2

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.

I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled.

3

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.

noun

1

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.

2

A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.

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