adjective
- not open and aboveboard; secret and crafty or dishonorable: an underhand deal with the chief of police.
- executed with the hand below the level of the shoulder and the palm turned upward and forward: an underhand delivery of a ball.
adverb
- with the hand below the level of the shoulder and the palm turned upward and forward: to bowl underhand.
- secretly; stealthily; slyly.
adjective Also: underhanded
- clandestine, deceptive, or secretive
- sport another word for underarm
adverb
- in an underhand manner or style
adv.Old English under hand “in subjection,” from under + hand. Sense of “secret, stealthy, surreptitious” first recorded 1530s. For sense development, cf. Middle Dutch onderhanden “by degrees, slowly,” Dutch onderhandsch “secret, private.” The adjective is attested from 1540s.