/bi loh"/ , adv.
1. in or toward a lower place: Look out below!
2. on, in, or toward a lower level, as a lower deck of a ship: The captain of the ship went below.
3. beneath the surface of the water: Divers were sent below to view the wreck.
4. on earth: the fate of creatures here below.
5. in hell or the infernal regions.
6. at a later point on a page or in a text: See the illustration below. Cf. above (def. 5).
7. in a lower rank or grade: He was demoted to the class below.
8. under zero on the temperature scale: The temperature in Buffalo was ten below this morning.
9. Theat. downstage. Cf. above (def. 8).
10. Zool. on the lower or ventral side.
prep.
11. lower down than: below the knee.
12. lower in rank, degree, amount, rate, etc., than: below cost; below freezing.
13. too low or undignified to be worthy of; beneath: He considered such an action below his notice.
14. Theat. downstage of: There are two chairs below the table.
[ 1275-1325; ME bilooghe, equiv. to bi- by (see BE-) + looghe LOW 1 ]
Syn. 11. BELOW, UNDER, BENEATH indicate position in some way lower than something else. BELOW implies being in a lower plane: below the horizon, the water line. UNDER implies being lower in a perpendicular line: The book is under the chair. BENEATH may have a meaning similar to BELOW, but more usually denotes being under so as to be covered, overhung, or overtopped: the pool beneath the falls.