First stem argument-taking [...] This group includes such existing compounds as those in (12): (12) P N compounds: afterbirth, underarm, underbelly; V N compounds: drawbridge, pickpocket, pushcart; P A compounds; V A compounds: diehard. Compounds of this class are clearly neither [...] abundant nor [...] productive [...]. The first stem does not supply any of its features to the compound as a whole. It must therefore satisfy whatever argument structure it has within the compound. These compounds should then be possible only under limited conditions: either (a) the P or V which is the first stem must be able to satisfy its argument structure with the seond stem, or (b) if the P or V has no internal argument in its argument structure, the second stem in the compound is free and must be interpretable as a semantic argument.
- Lieber (2004), Pag. 218