undertow

noun

subsurface flow of water returning seaward from shore as result of wave action; average under-current which is moving offshore when waves are approaching a shore

Wiktionary

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English tow English undertow From under- + tow.

A short-range flow of water returning seaward from the waves breaking on the shore.
“A strong undertow may sweep a returning swimmer off their feet but it does not carry them far from the shore.”
A feeling that runs contrary to one's normal one.

verb

To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
“Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...]”
To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.
“A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory.”
“I sink because I cannot swim, undertowed to the Centre, abandoning all remembrance of the surface toward the cloud of unknowing, without choice I'm pulled.”
To flow or behave as an undertow.
“Everybody knows this and acts accordingly; but when you say it, it sounds bad and bold, and makes you uncomfortable to hear it, because the puritan blood is still undertowing in your veins.”