Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb In or to a lower place; beneath.
  • adverb On or to a lower floor; downstairs.
  • adverb Nautical On or to a lower deck.
  • adverb In a later part of a given text.
  • adverb Farther down, as along a slope or valley.
  • adverb In or to hell or Hades.
  • adverb On the earth.
  • adverb In a lower rank or class.
  • adverb Below zero in temperature.
  • preposition Underneath; beneath.
  • preposition Lower than, as on a graduated scale.
  • preposition Downstream of.
  • preposition South of.
  • preposition Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In or to a lower place or level; beneath; downward from a higher point: as, look below; in the valley below.
  • On the earth, as opposed to in the heavens.
  • In hell, or the regions of the dead: as, “the realms below,” Dryden.
  • On a lower floor; downstairs.
  • Nautical, off duty: as, the watch below, in contradistinction to the watch on deck.
  • At a later point in a page or writing; further on in the same part or division: as, particulars are given below; see the statistics below.
  • Lower down in a course or direction, as toward the mouth of a river or harbor, etc.: as, the vessel has just arrived from below.
  • In a lower rank or grade: as, at the trial below, or in the court below.
  • Under in place; beneath; not so high as: as, below the knee.
  • Lower than in position or direction; lower down: as, he lives a little below our house, that is, a little lower down the street, road, hill, etc.
  • Lower than in degree, amount, weight, price, value, etc.
  • Later in time than.
  • Inferior in rank, excellence, or dignity: as, “one degree below kings.” Addison, Remarks on Italy, Venice.
  • Too low to be worthy of; inferior to.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • preposition Under, or lower in place; beneath not so high.
  • preposition Inferior to in rank, excellence, dignity, value, amount, price, etc.; lower in quality.
  • preposition Unworthy of; unbefitting; beneath.
  • adverb In a lower place, with respect to any object; in a lower room; beneath.
  • adverb On the earth, as opposed to the heavens.
  • adverb In hell, or the regions of the dead.
  • adverb In court or tribunal of inferior jurisdiction.
  • adverb In some part or page following.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • preposition lower in spatial position than
  • preposition lower in value than
  • preposition downstream of
  • preposition south of
  • preposition unsuitable to the rank or dignity of
  • preposition downstage of
  • adverb in a lower place.
  • adverb on a lower storey.
  • adverb further down.
  • adverb nautical on a lower deck.
  • adverb of a temperature below zero.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bilooghe : bi, by; see by + loghe, low; see low.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bilooghe, from Middle English bi “by” + looghe “low”.

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Examples

  • Two hundred and twenty-four families in the ward live below the sidewalk, many of them _below high-water mark_.

    American Woman's Home Harriet Beecher Stowe 1853

  • When the artery cannot be found, and in all cases of bad cuts on any of the limbs, apply compression; when it can be done, tie a very tight bandage above the wound, if it be below the heart, and _below_ if the wound be above the heart.

    A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School Catharine Esther Beecher 1839

  • The ECB has been criticized in many quarters for not cutting interest rates as fast as the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, even though inflation is well below the «close to but below» 2 percent target and the economies in the euro zone are contracting sharply.

    unknown title 2009

  • _30° below zero_ -- Very cold; take particular care of your nose and extremities: eat the fattest food, and plenty of it _40° below_ -- Intensely cold; keep awake at all hazards, muffle up to the eyes, and test your circulation frequently, that it may not stop somewhere before you know it.

    Northern Travel Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland Bayard Taylor 1851

  • In sub-field, I’m a big fan of “Observation of Atoms Laser Cooled below the Doppler Limit” (’below’ not capitalized, oddly enough): PRL 61, 169.

    The Greatest Physics Paper! cjohnson 2005

  • In sub-field, I’m a big fan of “Observation of Atoms Laser Cooled below the Doppler Limit” (’below’ not capitalized, oddly enough): PRL 61, 169.

    The Greatest Physics Paper! cjohnson 2005

  • KMART5OFF50 coupon) - $6 (5% FWCB see link below) + 20 (shipping see below**) =

    Fatwallet.com Hot Deals 2010

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    Fatwallet.com Hot Deals 2010

  • Buoyed, very likely, by Ron Charles's positive review a week or so back click the title below to be linked to the page on the Web.

    BOOK WORLD - February 27, 2011 2011

  • The subhead beneath the title below the photo at the Universal TdF webular log has a typo:

    Taking a Beating: Literally Stiffed, Vertically Complaining BikeSnobNYC 2010

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