underpinnings

You will have cut the underpinnings from beneath the American dollar.

Clank, the presses begin again, and all afternoon I iron gentlemen's underpinnings.

The gate of the nameless mausoleum had not been opened for many years, and the wind had heaped the dirt against the underpinnings.

That ship you talked of is awfully plated up topside, but all her underpinnings are pretty weak.