underprop (underprops, present participle underpropping; past and past participle underpropped)

1. (transitive) To prop from beneath; to put a prop under; to support; to uphold, prop up.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821 ↗:

     , II.12:

     He hath employed all his wit to frame him selfe anew (as impatient of his fortune) and to underprop or uphold himselfe by his inventions.