undernature

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ nature.

Noun

undernature (plural not attested)

  1. An underlying, secretive, or surreptitious nature.
    • 1904, Mind: Science, Philosophy, Religion, Psychology, Metaphysics, volume 14:
      Along the lines of likes, persons naturally seek each other or respond to the call of undernature and inaugurate their procedures without special exercise of will or intelligence or sacrifice of personal choice, and move as a body […]
    • 2013, Michael Helm, Cities of Refuge, page 400:
      For moments at a time in the watching the bluntness is bent away from itself to some undernature and it feels its deep wilderness mind, moving, intent, fully itself, crossing through bush, over saplings, crossing road into encampment, wilderness mind, two thousand miles to the west.
    • 2014, Lia Mills, Fallen:
      How do they hide their wild undernature, their inventive nocturnal selves, put on their clothes and go out about their business?
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