underwood

From under- +‎ wood.

underwood (countable and uncountable, plural underwoods)

1. Underbrush, undergrowth.
   • 1670, John Evelyn, Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber, London, Chapter 3, Of the Oak, pp. 16-17,

     What improvement the stirring of the ground about the roots of Oaks is to the Trees I have already hinted; and yet in Copses where they stand warm, and so thickn’d with the under wood, as this culture cannot be practis’d, they prove in time to be goodly Trees.

   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 30,

     […] the Country near the Sea-side, and some few Miles further is full of short Under-wood, and thorny Shrubs, which tore our Cloaths to Rags […]

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein:

     ‘Accordingly I hid myself in some thick underwood, determining to devote the ensuing hours to reflection on my situation.’

   • 1825, Laws relating to landlords, tenants, and lodgers - Volume 7, page 17:

     But tenants may cut underwood, and take wood sufficient to repair the pales, hedges, and fences, and what is called by law plough-bote, fire-bote, and other house-bote.