The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
v. To support from below, as with props, girders, or masonry.
v. To give support or substance to: "the public awareness that must underpin a sustained and concerted development effort for Africa and its youth” ( Barber B. Conable).
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
v. To lay stones, masonry, etc., under, as the sills of a building, on which it is to rest.
v. To support by some solid foundation; to place something underneath for support.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
To pin or support underneath; place something under for support or foundation when a previous support is removed; underset; hence, figuratively, to support; prop.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
v. support with evidence or authority or make more certain or confirm
v. support from beneath
Word Usage
"We've picked up a lot of product wins over the last several years with our key customers that kind of underpin it, but we haven't seen a market or systemic change across Cardiac Rhythm Management that is different from before."