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单词 earth
释义

earthn.1

Brit. /əːθ/, U.S. /ərθ/
Forms:

α. Old English earð- (Northumbrian, in compounds), Old English earðe (rare), Old English eor- (in compounds, rare), Old English eorþa (rare), Old English eorða (rare), Old English eorðo (Northumbrian), Old English eorðu (Northumbrian), Old English eoð- (in compounds, perhaps transmission error), Old English heorþe (rare), Old English hiorð- (in compounds, rare), Old English iorþe (rare), Old English iorðe (rare), Old English teorðan (transmission error), Old English yorðe (Kentish), Old English (chiefly in compounds)–early Middle English eorð, Old English–early Middle English eorðe, Old English–early Middle English yrðe (Kentish), Old English (rare)–Middle English earþe, Old English (in compounds)–Middle English eorþ, Old English–Middle English eorþe, Old English (rare)–Middle English erðe, Old English (Kentish)–Middle English yrþe, late Old English eoþan (inflected form, probably transmission error), late Old English eoðan (inflected form, probably transmission error), late Old English heorðe, late Old English–early Middle English eorþæ, late Old English–early Middle English eorðæ, late Old English–Middle English eorth- (in compounds), late Old English–Middle English erþe, early Middle English eorthþe, early Middle English eorððe, early Middle English ierðe (south-eastern), early Middle English oerþ, early Middle English oerþe, early Middle English orþ, early Middle English orð, early Middle English orðe, Middle English eærðe, Middle English eerth, Middle English eerthe, Middle English eorȝ (in copy of Old English charter), Middle English eorthe, Middle English erdh, Middle English erh, Middle English erith, Middle English erþ, Middle English erð, Middle English eyrthe, Middle English herdethe, Middle English herþe, Middle English herðe, Middle English herth, Middle English horþe, Middle English horðe, Middle English irthe, Middle English orþe, Middle English urþ, Middle English urth, Middle English urthe, Middle English vrþe, Middle English vrthe, Middle English–1500s erth, Middle English–1500s herthe, Middle English–1600s erthe, Middle English– earth, 1500s–1600s earthe, 1500s heth (London); U.S. regional 1800s 'arth, 1800s uth, 1800s– airth, 1900s– earf (in African-American usage), 1900s– eart (southern, in African-American usage)), 1900s– urf (in African-American usage); English regional 1800s aath (Somerset), 1800s orth, 1800s– arth (northern and midlands), 1800s– ath, 1800s– eath (southern and midlands), 1800s– eth, 1800s– e'th (Yorkshire); Scottish pre-1700 aerth, pre-1700 airth, pre-1700 arth, pre-1700 eirthe, pre-1700 eirtht, pre-1700 erthe, pre-1700 1700s– earth, pre-1700 1800s eirth, pre-1700 1800s erth, 1700s hearth, 1800s e'rt' (Orkney), 1800s orth, 1800s– eart (Shetland), 1800s– ert (Shetland), 1900s– aert (Shetland), 1900s– eart' (Shetland); also Irish English 1700s eart (Wexford), 1700s–1800s eorth (Wexford), 1800s erth (Wexford), 1900s– irth (northern).

β. Old English georð- (rare, in compounds), Old English georþe (rare), Old English–early Middle English georðe (rare), Middle English ȝerþ, Middle English ȝerþe, Middle English ȝerthe, Middle English ȝorthe, Middle English yeorþ (in copy of Old English charter), Middle English yereth, Middle English yerþe, Middle English–1500s yerth, Middle English–1500s yerthe, 1500s yarthe, 1500s yeareth, 1500s yearthe, 1500s–1700s yearth; U.S. regional 1800s yeath, 1800s yea'th, 1800s yeth, 1800s– yarth, 1800s– yearth, 1900s– yairth, 1900s– yearf (in African-American usage), 1900s– ye't, 1900s– ye'th, 1900s– yut, 1900s– yu't, 1900s– yu'th; English regional 1800s yar (Yorkshire), 1800s– yarth, 1800s– yath (Yorkshire), 1800s– yearth (northern and midlands), 1800s– yeath (south-western), 1800s– yerth, 1800s– yeth, 1800s– yirth, 1800s– yurth (Cumberland), 1800s– yuth (Worcestershire); Scottish 1700s– yirth, 1800s yearth, 1800s yeith, 1800s yerth; also Irish English 1900s– yirth (northern); N.E.D. (1891) also records a form late Middle English yorth.

γ. Old English–early Middle English eord- (in compounds), Old English (Anglian)–early Middle English eorde, late Old English eordæ, Middle English erde, Middle English ertd, Middle English herd, Middle English hurde, Middle English 1600s erd; English regional (northern) 1700s– eard, 1800s– erd, 1800s– hard (Yorkshire); Scottish pre-1700 aird, pre-1700 earde, pre-1700 erde, pre-1700 erid, pre-1700 eyrd, pre-1700 eyrde, pre-1700 1700s–1800s eird, pre-1700 1700s– eard, pre-1700 1700s– erd, 1700s e'rd; also Irish English (Wexford) 1700s–1800s eard, 1700s–1800s eord.

See also yird n.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian irthe , erthe , ērde , Old Dutch ertha (Middle Dutch aerde , erde , Dutch aarde ), Old Saxon erða (Middle Low German ērde ), Old High German erda (Middle High German erde , German Erde ), Old Icelandic jǫrð , Old Swedish iordh (Swedish jord ), early modern Danish iorth (Danish jord ), Gothic airþa < an extended form (t -extension) of the Indo-European base of Old High German ero earth, ancient Greek ἔρα- (in ἔραζε to earth, towards the earth, in Hellenistic Greek also ‘on the ground’), and also (with different extension) Old Icelandic jǫrvi sandbank, Welsh erw unit of land measurement (see erw n.).In Old English usually a weak feminine (eorðe ); however, apparent weak masculine (eorða ) and strong masculine and feminine (eorð ) by-forms are very occasionally attested (although the evidence is far from conclusive). The Northumbrian forms eorðo , eorðu apparently show levelling from oblique cases rather than influence of the strong feminine (ō -stem) declension (compare A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §617). The β. forms show the development of a palatal on-glide. (Old English (Kentish) forms in yo- , e.g. yorðe at α. forms, instead show variation of io- .) Some regional forms (both α. and β. ) show replacement of /θ/ by /t/ or /f/. The γ. forms apparently arose by semantic association or confusion with erd n., already evident in Old English; such forms are particularly common in northern English and Scots, probably influenced by widespread interchange of /d/ and /ð/ in the vicinity of /r/ in these areas. In early use often translating and in some cases (e.g. sense 12) perhaps after classical Latin terra the planet earth, its surface and its inhabitants, ground, soil, dry land, territory, the element earth, earth as a chemical or medicinal substance, etc. (see terra n.); compare also Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French terre (see terre n.), with a range of senses similar to Latin terra . In sense 15 originally after classical Latin terra, itself in this sense after ancient Greek γῆ (see geo- comb. form); compare Anglo-Norman and Old French terre (mid 12th cent. in this sense). In recent use also occasionally after the words for the equivalent element in other cosmologies, e.g. Chinese tǔ, Sanskrit pṛthvī. With sense 13c compare earlier earthed adj. 2. Attested early in place names (chiefly in sense 13), as Herdicote , Gloucestershire (1086; now Gaunts Earthcott), Gereburg , Lincolnshire (1086; now Yarborough), etc.; earlier currency of sense 5 is implied by the place name Focsearde, Essex (1086; now Foxearth).
I. Senses relating to the ground.
1. The ground considered simply as a surface on which human beings, animals, and things associated with them rest or move.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > ground > [noun]
ground971
earthOE
fleta1000
foldOE
landOE
floor?a1400
soila1400
margin?a1425
yird1433
sulye1434
swardc1440
leaa1475
paithmentc1480
visagea1500
crust1555
mother earth1568
solum1829
carpet1918
deck1925
dutty1925
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) iv. 211 Iohannes..astrehte his lichoman to eorðan on langsumum gebede.
OE Beowulf (2008) 1532 Wearp ða wundelmæl [read wundenmæl]..þæt hit on eorðan læg, stið ond stylecg.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 8074 Forr he [sc. Herod] warrþ seoc. & he bigann To rotenn bufenn eorþe.
c1300 Evangelie (Dulwich Coll.) 106 in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1915) 30 551 (MED) [Þ]e neddre..ne may on herþe glide.
c1450 (c1400) Emaré (1908) l. 285 (MED) He felle down in sowenynge, To þe yrþe was he dyght.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) iv. 284 The Kyng..Wes laid at Erd.
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 6817 Sum [he] hurlit to þe hard yerth.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 75 So typtoe-nyce in treading on the earth, as though they walkt vpon Snakes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 198 They kneele, they kisse the Earth . View more context for this quotation
1691 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense (ed. 8) 23 Let your Gard'ner endeavour to apply the Collateral Branches of his Wall Fruits..to the Earth or Borders.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Reptile is likewise used, abusively, for Plants and Fruits which creep on the Earth, or on other Plants.
1764 J. Boswell Grand Tour 1 Oct. (1953) 117 While I drove by in my coach, the people bowed to the earth.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess v. 118 Part roll'd on the earth and rose again.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Strange Case Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde iv. 37 Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed him to the earth.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Woman who rode Away & Other Stories 51 He looked a long time down at the earth, then glanced up at her with a touch of supplication in his uneasy eyes.
1995 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 20 Feb. 7 I worship the very earth that this team walks on.
2. The ground considered as a solid stratum.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > ground > [noun] > as solid stratum
mouldOE
earthOE
OE Judgement Day II 99 Eall eorðe bifað, eac swa þa duna dreosað and hreosað.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1100 To þam Pentecosten wæs gesewen..æt anan tune blod weallan of eorþan.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 13884 Þa eorðe [c1300 Otho earþe] gon beouien.
c1300 St. Mary of Egypt (Laud) 316 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 270 (MED) Þe eorþe was hard, and he was old, and none spade he nadde.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 16784 Þe day wex derker þen þe nyȝt: þe erþe quook wiþ alle.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4699 Þe erth it clang, for drught and hete.
1562 W. Bullein Bk. Simples f. 57, in Bulwarke of Defence The people..are constrained to inhabite in Caves, under the yearth.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 8v Of Gemmes, some are found in the earthes vaines, & are digged vp with Metalles.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1190 The casting up aloft into the aire of stones & cinders by subterranean windes under the earth.
1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 46 They lie in Veins in the Earth, and in the firm Rocks.
1701 tr. N. Andry Acct. Breeding Worms in Human Bodies iii. 32 They..were seized with an Epidemical Distemper, inspiring them with such fury, that they fell a digging the Earth.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. iii. 339 Who under earth on human kind avenge Severe, the guilt of violated oaths.
1839 Z. Leonard Narr. Adventures 73/2 An oil spring, rising out of the earth.
1863 A. P. Stanley Lect. Jewish Church I. viii. 185 ‘The well’, the deep cavity sunk in the earth by the art of man.
1865 Frost & Fire II. 182 Them is what we call marble stones; they grow in the yearth.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxvi. 711 Asphalt, or mineral pitch, is considered to be the residue from the natural evaporation of petroleum, which has escaped from the earth.
1974 L. Murray Coll. Poems (1991) 110 Out here, the trees Grow coolly under the earth.
1991 Which? Apr. 188/2 Groundwater is produced by rainwater percolating down through the earth.
3. The soil as suitable for cultivation. Also with modifying word, indicating the nature or quality of the soil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > ground as suitable for cultivation
landc825
earthOE
farmland1357
ox-landa1387
red land1459
lair1519
mainland1686
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke xiii. 7 Succidite ergo illam ut quid etiam terram occupat : hrendas uel scearfað forðon ðailca uel hia to huon uutedlice eorðo gionetað uel gemerras.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) vi. 56 Se dæl þæs sædes ðe on godre eorðan befeol, þæt sind ða ðe godes word on godre heortan healdað, and bringað wæstm on geðylde.
a1200 (?OE) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 155 Sum [of þe sed] ful on þe gode eorðe and þat com wel forð.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 27268 Tilmen..better þaire awen erþ tilis.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. l. 81 The bittrist erthe and werst that thou canst thynke.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. viiiv To plow his barley erth.
1557 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1857) I. 143 On close lyeinge nerest unto James Bailies called the merled earthe.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 28 When you finde the chace to runne ouer anye faire earth, as either ouer More, Medowe, Heath [etc.] al which my Countrie men of the north call skelping earthes.
1693 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Metamorphoses i, in Examen Poeticum 6 The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the Plough, And unprovok'd, did fruitful Stores allow.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Earth By Means of Sand it is, that the fatty Earth is render'd fertile.
1771 E. Burke Let. in Corr. (1960) II. 248 The great general Objection of Farmers against ploughing up the dead Earth.
1821 A. Wheeler Westmorland Dial. (ed. 3) 71 They racken his earth is as gud as onny ith parrish.
1892 W. Cather Lou, the Prophet in Hesperian 15 Oct. 7/1 In this new land their plow runs across the field tearing up the fresh, warm earth, with never a stone to stay its course.
1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) i. iii. 25 Tillage operations, which expose the under layers of the soil to the air and the sun, render the earth more fertile.
1972 J. Mandelkau Harmony Farm iv. 52 Kelly did his best to become an enthusiastic farmer. He read all the books and worked on the earth through every straining day from sunrise to sunset.
2007 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Sept. 81/2 No-till farming, in which farmers leave crop residues in place instead of tilling them into the earth.
4. The ground considered as a place for burying the dead. In early use frequently in to bring (a person) to (the) earth: to bury (a person); now archaic. Cf. above earth at above adv., prep., n., and adj. Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > [noun] > earth or ground as place of burial
eartheOE
groundc1400
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. vi. 49 Æt nihstan ða þe þær to lafe beon moston wæron to ðæm meðie þæt hie ne mehton þa gefarenan to eorþan bringan.
OE Regularis Concordia (Tiber.) (1993) lxvi. 139 Donec..corpus terre commendetur : oþ þæt..þæt lic eorþan beo betæht.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 6131 He shall shrifenn þe..& brinngenn þe till eorþe.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2137 To-gadere come his eorles & brohten hine to eorðe [c1300 Otho erþe].
c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 598 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 511 Ded he com iwis & þer he was ibroȝt an vrþe.
1387 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 2 Y be-quethe iii.li to bringe me on erthe.
?1457 J. Hardyng Chron. (Lansd.:Hammond) 235 Kynge Rycharde..at langley leyde in erthe.
1541 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 261 [William Clovyer, of Chelsworth, charged his wife] to brynge me vnto the herthe honestly accordynge to my value.
1541 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 141 I commytt my body to be buryed in the churche erthe.
a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. I4v Euery earth is fit for buriall.
1636 in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 341 First I giue and bequeath my Body to ye yearth & my soule vnto god yt gaue it.
1682 Will of Ann Tooker (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/370) f. 294v My body to the earth without any other ceremony than Rosemary and wine.
1705 T. Greenhill Νεκροκηδεια 5 Nature admonishes us that the spiritless Body should be restored to the Earth.
1785 Life Miss Davis 5 He..was convicted and hanged..and her hemp-sick husband laid in the earth.
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 260 A speedy-man by nimbler foe Lies buried in the earth below.
1855 J. E. Cooke Ellie iii. xxi. 562 The body of Lucia was committed to the earth from which it sprung.
1904 J. E. Carpenter First Three Gospels (ed. 3) viii. 350 We shall not expect him to..draw forth from the earth the reanimate forms of the uncounted dead.
1973 J. Gardner tr. Allit. Morte Arthure 113 Go on to Glastonbury with grieving hearts, To bury that boldest of kings and bring him to earth.
2002 I. Knight Don't you want Me? vii. 85 She is buried in the earth, and once again at one with Mother Nature.
5. As a count noun: an animal's dwelling or hiding place; the hole or lair of a burrowing mammal, esp. a fox or badger. Also figurative. Cf. Phrases 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habitat > habitat > [noun] > dwelling place or shelter > burrow
holec950
burrowa1375
dowera1398
earthc1450
anglec1720
pipe1738
tunnel1873
pig-hole1928
c1450 (?a1400) Parl. Thre Ages (BL Add. 31042) l. 18 The foxe and the filmarte þay flede to þe erthe.
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxvi. 187 If you..put the Terryer into an earth where Foxes be, or Badgerdes, they will leaue that earth.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Accul,..the bottome..of a foxes, or badgers earth.
1662 in W. M. Myddelton Chirk Castle Acc. (1908) 9 June I. 160 Paid for ale digginge for yo: foxes att an earth neere mr Hanmer's house of Pentrepant iijs.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 309 Frighted Hare fled to Cover, or Fox to Earth.
1781 P. Beckford Thoughts on Hunting xxiii. 304 I also recommend to you, to turn them into large covers and strong earths.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth xii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 311 I am ready to take you to any place of safety you can name..But you cannot persuade me that you do not know what earth to make for.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. vi. 131 They were generally near their earths, but the dogs killed one.
1857 Zoologist 15 5624 The capture..of that sex [of spider] by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge in a rabbit-earth is very interesting.
1902 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 8/2 A brace of foxes were next bolted from an artificial earth.
1980 Duke of Beaufort Fox-Hunting xiv. 139 In the places where foxes are likely to run the earths should be ‘put to’ or stopped in the early morning.
2006 Herald Express (Torquay) (Nexis) 21 June 8 Near one of the wildest earths I know on Dartmoor a vixen continues to educate her cubs in the survival business.
6.
a. The ground as a medium by which an electric circuit is completed or as having zero potential; (hence) electrical connection with the ground. Now usually as a mass noun. Cf. ground n. 15b.The purpose of such a connection may be to serve as a return path for a telegraph current, to provide a route for current that would otherwise pass through a person in the case of a fault, or to protect against damage to electrical equipment by limiting the increase in voltage that can occur in it. An accidental connection to earth may result in leakage of current.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conduction to earth > [noun]
earth1742
earth wiring1876
earthing1880
1742 J. T. Desaguliers Diss. Electr. 25 If the least flaxen Thread falls..so as to touch the Ground, the Electricity..is lost upon the Ground or the Earth.
1756 R. Lovett Subtil Medium Prov'd ii. 56 His Electricity never passes out of the Earth directly to the Gun-barrel or Wires, but from the Earth to the prime electrical Globe or Tube only.
1760 Philos. Trans. 1759 (Royal Soc.) 51 312 An electric current, setting in from the glass of the electrifying machine, and passing along the tube through the quicksilver and vacuum, and so to the earth.
1773 H. Cavendish Jrnl. 9 Feb. in Electr. Res. (1879) 267 It was suspected that this increase of separation of the balls before they closed was owing to the wire designed to carry off the el[ectricity] to earth not conducting fast enough.
1829 T. Exley Princ. Nat. Philos. vii. 187 The redundancy of fluid delivered to the rubber is also discharged by means of its connection with the earth.
1850 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 50 62 The current may thus reach the earth by two ways which are alternately opened and closed.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 243 Earths are indicated by an increase in the strength of the current at the sending end.
1901 L. M. Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 17 When the cables are pulled through, the braiding (and perhaps the rubber) is torn off and the result is a bad ‘earth’ at some future time.
1936 E. A. Atkins & A. G. Walker Electr. Arc & Oxy-acetylene Welding (ed. 3) 375 (in figure) All metal casings of apparatus and instruments..must be connected to earth or to a water main.
1943 Triumphs of Engin. 73/2 Slinging the cable from the towers needed elaborate detail insulation work, for current at high pressures will otherwise leak away through the towers to earth.
2002 R. D. Treloar Plumbing: Heating & Gas Installations (ed. 2) vi. 258 Discharge a spark across the gap between two electrodes, or one electrode passing to earth.
b. A terminal to which a connection to earth should be made; a conductor kept at, or regarded as being at, zero potential.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conduction to earth > [noun] > wire
earth wire1847
earth1857
neutral wire1893
1857 H. M. Noad Man. Electr. II. (ed. 4) ii. xx. 774 A circuit of 40 miles earth and 40 miles wire presented the same resistance as a circuit of 40 miles wire.
1866 R. M. Ferguson Electricity 250 An ‘earth’, however, is generally put at each station.
1896 T. E. Herbert Electr. in Applic. to Telegr. xvii. 81 B is connected to earth as is the end of our 40 ohm leak.
1966 Buying Secondhand (Consumers' Assoc.) 71 Earth is always green or green/yellow except in German-made appliances where earth is red.
2001 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 17 Jan. 5 A wiring diagram embossed on the bottom of the socket could mislead people into connecting the live lead to earth.
II. Senses relating to the world.
7. Dry land, as opposed to the sea or other body of water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > [noun]
landc900
groundOE
earthOE
dry landa1225
sandc1275
dry1382
continent1590
fastland1680
terra firma1692
region1697
firm land1872
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) i. 10 God gecygde ða drignysse eorðan [L. terram] & ðæra wætera gegaderunga he het sæ.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxiii. 15 Forþam ge befarað sæ & eorþan [L. aridam].
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10337 Eȝȝþerr..ȝede upp o þe flumm Alls itt onn eorþe wære.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 116 Ðe ðridde dai..was water and erðe o sunder sad.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 383 Þe watris all he calid þe se. þe drey he calid erd.
a1425 (a1382) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Gen. i. 10 God clepid the drie, erthe [L. terram]; and the gaderyngis of watris he clepide, sees.
1560 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodyake of Lyfe iii. sig. Gi That workman first, that made ye skies the earth, and seas also.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. ii. 16 The Sea and Earth togither are lapped vp in the Ayre.
1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus iii. 3 The Earth was made for man and beast to liue vpon, the sea for fish and nauigation.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 624 The seat of men, Earth with her nether Ocean circumfus'd. View more context for this quotation
1712 A. Pope Rape of Locke ii, in Misc. Poems 366 Sooner let Earth, Air, Sea, to Chaos fall.
1768 H. Brooke Fool of Quality (Dublin ed.) III. xiv. 54 I have no Road to go upon Earth, no Way upon Sea to navigate.
1825 Times 31 Jan. 3/2 By whom the act was perpetrated..we must be content to leave unknown until the earth and sea shall give up their dead.
1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 369 There's sae strong a spirit of life hotchin' ower yearth and sea.
1879 C. Rossetti Seek & Find 24 The sky..overarching and embosoming not earth and sea only, but clouds and meteors, planets and stars.
1907 J. Davidson Triumph of Mammon iv. 99 We form the matter of the furthest star, The matter of the earth, the sea, the sky.
1956 C. Lake & R. Maillard Dict. Mod. Painting 133 Broad horizons where stretches of earth and sea are separated from sky by only a lightly curved, uncertain, extremely fine line.
2008 Scarborough Evening News (Nexis) 14 Feb. As earth and sea grow warmer they can no longer absorb and dissolve atmospheric CO2 and will begin to emit it instead.
8. Land and sea, as opposed to the sky.
ΚΠ
OE Andreas (1932) 798 Sceoldon hie þam folce gecyðan hwa æt frumsceafte furðum teode eorðan eallgrene ond upheofon.
OE Genesis A (1931) 113 Her ærest gesceop ece drihten..heofon and eorðan, rodor arærde, and þis rume land gestaþelode strangum mihtum... Folde wæs þa gyta græs ungrene; garsecg þeahte sweart synnihte.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 139 (MED) Sunnen dei was iseȝan þet formeste liht buuen eorðe.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 40 Of nogt Was heuene and erðe samen wrogt.
c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) l. 95 God atte begynnynges Hedde imaad heuene wiþ ginne..And þe eorþe þerafter þerwiþ.
a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 2 (MED) God..þ[at] heuene & erthe made of nowth, boþe se & londe.
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 38 I ever feare lest th' Earth..should fall to the other part of the Heavens.
1597 T. Blundeville Exercises (ed. 2) vii. f. 364 Vpon which two Poles, otherwise called the hookes or hengils of the world, the heauens doe turne rounde about the earth.
a1649 W. Drummond Poems (1656) 153 Like worlds bright Eye, That once each yeare surveyes All earth, and skie.
1698 J. Keill Exam. Theory Earth (1734) 127 What proportion all the Rivers in the Earth bear to the Po.
1723 R. Bundy tr. B. Lamy Apparatus Biblicus iii. v. 446 The rain falls down on the earth from heaven.
1765 L. Abbott Poems Var. Subj. 107 Around the thick'ning Branches shoot and blend, And, spreading wide, o'er all the Earth extend.
1835 J. L. Blake Conversat. on Nat. Philos. xi. 151 Why do clouds descend to the earth in drops of water instead of vapour?
1881 M. E. Braddon Asphodel III. 331 An obelisk..blanking out earth and heaven with its gigantic form.
1942 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 62 86/2 This god Tvaṣṭṛ..made not only sky and earth, but many other celebrated objects.
1980 J. Phillips Exploring Genesis i. 41 The supply of water above the earth is maintained by evaporation—the constant lifting of water from the earth into the atmosphere by the power of the sun.
2004 R. Willis & P. Curry Astrol., Sci. & Culture ii. 33 The Dinka people of the southern Sudan suppose that originally earth and sky were connected by a rope.
9.
a. The world considered as the dwelling place of humans. Frequently contrasted with heaven, hell, or some other place of future existence (cf. middle earth n. 1).heaven on earth and hell on earth: see the first element.
ΚΠ
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxviii. 18 Me is geseald ælc anweald on heofonan & on eorðan [OE Lindisf. in eorðo; L. in terra].
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 47 (MED) Heo [sc. sunne dei] on eorðe ȝeueð reste to alle eorðe þrelles, wepmen and wifmen, of heore þrel weorkes.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 8 (MED) Uor þu sselt libbe þe lenger ine yerþe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 71 Þat saues me first in herth fra syn, And heuen blys me helps to wyn.
?c1430 (?1382) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 515 To conquere alle seculer lordship in þis eorþe.
a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) l. 1850 Shalle not long wt ȝou in urthe a-byde.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 8 Wat þu byndist vpon ȝerþe it schal be boundoun also in heuin.
a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 128 For in this erith no lady is so fare.
1546 Primer Hen. VIII 74 To whom..In heaven & yerth be laud and praise. Amen.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. iii. 45 Those that haue knowne the Earth so full of faults. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 99 O Earth, how like to Heav'n, if not preferrd More justly. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 147 Mighty Cæsar..On the glad Earth the Golden Age renews. View more context for this quotation
1739 A. Nicol Nature without Art 58 In my Life On Earth I'll have no Pleasure; If you deny to be my Wife.
1796 W. Amphlett Triumphs of War 46 Have mankind..yet resolv'd To banish legal murder from the earth?
1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake ii. xiii. 93 And Kilmeny on earth was never mair seen.
1850 R. C. Trench Parables (ed. 2) Introd. 20 Earth is not a shadow of heaven, but heaven..a dream of earth.
1954 W. R. Trask tr. M. Eliade Myth of Eternal Return i. 12 The sacred city or temple is regarded as the meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell.
1977 G. W. H. Lampe God as Spirit v. 136 The Jesus of the Gospels whom the imagination of the worshipper pictures as pre-existing in heaven and descending to earth.
1999 R. E. Guiley Encycl. Witches & Witchcraft (ed. 2) 331/2 The devarajas, who..are said to be karmic agents during a person's life on earth.
b. The inhabitants of the world collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > [noun]
maneOE
worldOE
all fleshc1000
mankinOE
earthOE
little worldc1175
man's kinda1200
mankinda1225
worldrichec1275
slimec1315
kindc1325
world1340
sectc1400
humanityc1450
microcosma1475
peoplea1500
the human kindred?1533
race1553
homo1561
humankind1561
universality1561
deadly?1590
mortality1598
rational1601
vicegerent1601
small world1604
flesh and blooda1616
mannity1621
human race1623
universea1645
nations1667
public1699
the species1711
Adamhood1828
Jock Tamson's bairns1832
folx1833
Bimana1839
human1841
peeps1847
menfolk1870
manfolk1876
amniota1879
peoplekind1956
personkind1972
OE Lambeth Psalter xcvii. 4 Iubilate deo, omnis terra, cantate et exultate et psallite : freadremað o eala þu eall eorðe singað & fægniaþ & sealmlof cweðaþ.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 893 For þay arn boȝt fro þe vrþe [cf. Apoc. 14:4. ex hominibus] aloynte As newe fryt to God ful due.
c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 363 Ther ben thynges three The whiche thynges troublen al this erthe.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xcvi. 9 Let the whole earth stonde in awe of him.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Song Three Children f. lvij O let the earth speake good of the Lorde.
1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xi. 1 The whole earth was of one language. View more context for this quotation
1654 E. Wolley tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Curia Politiæ 188 The eyes of all the earth observe our motion and superintend our actions.
1721 R. Blackmore New Version Psalms civ. 232 Let all the Earth the Lord adore.
1831 R. Vaughan Memorials Stuart Dynasty II. xii. 10 It is well to see the chains produced to enslave the earth falling thus signally on the hands that wrought them.
1891 E. Arnold Light of World v. 230 Myself, and all the Earth, and thee, Have no grief left, and cannot suffer grief.
1919 M. R. Rinehart Dangerous Days l. 394 This was to be the greatest day in the history of the world, and while all the earth waited for the signal guns, she waited for a man.
2008 Atlantic Free Press (Nexis) 27 Jan. One day soon, the entire earth will rise-up against this axis of evil.
10.
a. The world on which humankind lives, considered as a sphere, orb, or planet. Cf. globe n. 3a, terra n. 2.Usually with the (or our). In later use frequently with capital initial, esp. when compared or listed with other planets of the solar system (cf. planet n. 3a).Astronomically the earth is the third planet from the sun, orbiting it between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 92.96 million miles (149.6 million km). It is one of the terrestrial planets (see terrestrial adj. 2f). It has approximately the shape of an oblate spheroid, with an equatorial diameter of about 7926 miles (12,756 km) and a polar diameter of about 7900 miles (12,714 km), and is thought to have been formed about 4,600 million years ago.The idea that the earth is a sphere is traditionally ascribed to Parmenides of Elea (fl. early 5th cent. b.c.). It featured in the planetary system of Eudoxus of Cnidos (4th cent b.c.).flat-earth, figure of the earth, Spaceship Earth: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > [noun]
all the worldeOE
mouldOE
worldOE
earthOE
earthricheOE
foldOE
worldricheOE
motherOE
wonec1275
mound?a1300
wildernessa1340
mappemondea1393
lower worlda1398
the whole worlda1513
orba1550
the (also this) globe1553
the earthly globe1553
mother earth1568
the glimpses of the moon1603
universe1630
outer world1661
terrene1667
Orphic egg1684
Midgard1770
all outdoors1833
Planet Earth1858
overworld1911
Spaceship Earth1966
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > earth > [noun]
earthOE
ballc1300
Tellus1567
this earthly round1584
mass1587
underworld1609
footstool1652
terrestrial1745
terra firma1786
Planet Earth1858
terra1947
earthside1958
OE Ælfric De Temporibus Anni (Cambr. Gg.3.28) vi. §9. 46 Seo eorðe stent on gelicnysse anre pinnhnyte, & seo sunne glit onbutan be Godes gesetnysse.
c1300 St. Michael (Laud) l. 407 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 311 (MED) Ase an Appel þe eorþe is round.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 5336 Erthe that bitwixe is sett The sonne and hir [sc. the moon].
a1532 R. Thorne in R. Hakluyt Diuers Voy. (1582) sig. C Under the which is comprehended al the roundnesse of the earth.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 251v What parts of the baul of the earth remained yet vndiscouered.
1613 M. Ridley Short Treat. Magneticall Bodies 1 The great regent Globes of Saturne, Mars, Jupiter, the Sunne and the Earth.
1640 Bp. J. Wilkins (title) A discovrse concerning a new planet. Tending to prove, that 'tis probable our earth is one of the planets.
1658 Culpeper's Semeiotica Uranica (ed. 3) 18 The Earth is a great lump of dirt rolled up together, and..hanged in the Air.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 130 And what if sev'nth to these The Planet Earth, so stedfast though she seem, Insensibly three different Motions move? View more context for this quotation
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. iii. §9. 403 The place of the Aphelion or Perihelion of the Earth.
1772 W. Jones Poems 16 The round earth with foaming oceans vein'd.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) I. Introd. 32 The Earth is lengthened out at the Poles.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xlii. 499 The sun..occupies the centre of the system that comprehends our earth, together with a variety of other primary and secondary planets.
1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. II. vii. ii. 131 The aphelia of Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, slightly progress.
1854 D. Brewster More Worlds ii. 25 Jupiter, a world of huge magnitude, 1320 times greater in bulk than our Earth.
1913 Science 3 Oct. 469/1 All of nature's laws..should be the same on sun, earth or planet in the Milky Way.
1929 Amazing Stories Q. Winter 52/2 For the first time since he left the Earth he became space-sick.
1946 Captain Marvel Adventures Oct. 37/1 It was his duty to cruise the space-lanes between Earth and Mars.
1956 R. Carrington Guide Earth Hist. (1958) iii. 36 We began with a picture of our Earth, infinitely lonely, swimming through the vastness of space.
1988 J. Trefil Dark Side of Universe xiv. 190 The sun will collapse into a white dwarf—a star about the size of the earth.
2000 Independent 24 July i. 3/4 Meteor showers are caused by the earth passing through clouds of space dust.
b. A world resembling or likened to the earth; a habitable planet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > [noun] > habitable
worlda1522
earth1678
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 381 He affirmed..the Moon [to be] an Earth, having Mountains and Valleys, Cities and Houses in it.
1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth i. 168 We will consider..the rest of the earths, or of the planets within our heavens.
1787 J. Clowes tr. E. Swedenborg Conc. Earths in Solar Syst. 158 (heading) Concerning a second earth in the starry heaven, it's spirits and inhabitants.
1841 E. W. Lane tr. Thousand & One Nights I. 23 This is the 1st, or highest, of 7 earths.
1950 Fantasy Bk. No. 6. 48 They master the ships that connect the earths.
1952 C. Oliver in Analog Sci. Fact & Sci. Fiction July 140/1 They were after a planet almost exactly like Earth..another Earth circling a Class G star of exactly the right specifications.
2007 Nature 4 Jan. 10/1 2007 could be the year we find the first truly Earth-like planet... We should have a much better idea of how common alien Earths may be.
c. [Imitative of a ground controller attempting to contact a spacecraft.] humorous. Earth to (also calling) —— and variants: implying the person addressed is speaking or behaving in an abstracted manner, or is out of touch with reality.
ΚΠ
1979 Campus Slang Mar. 3 Earth to ——. Please pay attention.
1983 Atlantic (Nexis) May 91 Oh, Jeez, there she goes. Planet Earth calling Grace Poole!
1989 J. Churchill Grime & Punishment (1992) ix. 75 Earth calling Jane? Are you there?
1993 Independent (Electronic ed.) 22 Aug. 18 It's true his speech is urgent enough to prompt the ‘Planet Earth to Keanu’ tone of most published interviews with him.
2003 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Mar. ii. 5/2 Their big conflict is she may have to move to New York. Earth to Donna, you're a flight attendant. You can visit, you know, although the thought apparently doesn't come to mind.
11. colloquial. With the and as the object of a verb. A very large amount; everything. Frequently in to cost the earth: to be very expensive.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > high price or rate > [verb (intransitive)] > be dear or expensive
to cost money1596
to run into ——1718
cost1873
to cost the earth1882
1882 Richwood (Ohio) Gaz. 25 May If our Iowa girl poet..can catch on to a fellow once in a while, and does not want the earth, she should cease repining..and be contented as a girl.
1895 Mansfield (Ohio) News 12 June 8/4 (advt.) Some consignment agents promise the earth to effect a sale.
1924 P. G. Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror vii. 149 ‘Big grey limousine.’ ‘Expensive?’ ‘Looked as if it had cost the earth.’
1958 Engineering 4 Apr. 427/2 The customer has a perfect right to ask for the earth, but the supplier, if he is wise, will not necessarily let him have it.
1961 A. Christie Pale Horse xii. 129 Would it be terribly expensive?.. She'd heard they charged the earth.
1998 What Hi-Fi? May 8/4 With high standards of resolution and whip-crack drive, this Orelle gives you the real deal without costing the Earth.
†III. Senses relating to a defined portion of land.
12. A country, land, or territory. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > region of the earth > [noun]
endc893
earthOE
coastc1315
plagea1382
provincea1382
regiona1382
countrya1387
partya1387
climatea1398
partc1400
nookc1450
corner1535
subregion1559
parcel1582
quart1590
climature1604
latitudea1640
area1671
district1712
zone1829
natural region1888
sector1943
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > [noun]
landc725
kithc888
thedec888
earthOE
groundOE
foldOE
countryc1300
marchc1330
nationc1330
wonec1330
provincea1382
soila1400
strandc1400
terragec1440
room1468
limita1513
limitationa1527
seat1535
terrene1863
negara1955
negeri1958
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John iii. 22 Uenit iesus..in iudaeam terram et illic morabatur : cuom se hælend..in iudea eorðu & ðer geuunade.
OE Genesis A (1931) 1787 Þis is seo eorðe þe ic ælgrene tudre þinum torhte wille..on geweald don, rume rice.
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) l. 10911 Coel bi-lefde King a þissere erþe [Calig. inne Bruttene].
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5484 (MED) Ioseph..first was berid in þat contre, Siþen born til his erth was he.
a1425 (c1384) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Ezek. xxi. 2 Sone of man..prophecy thou aȝens the erthe [L. humum] of Israel.
a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) l. 1324 They yaue ser Torent that he wan, Both the Erth and the woman.
1556 W. Lauder Compend. Tractate Dewtie of Kyngis sig. B3 And..ȝe be nocht feird But doute, for to possesse the eird.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 344 This hand..That swayes the earth this Climate ouer-lookes. View more context for this quotation
1628 T. Hobbes tr. Thucydides Peloponnesian War (1822) 41 The Athenians have the spirit not to be slaves to their earth.
IV. Senses relating to a substance.
13.
a. The material of which the surface of the ground is composed; soil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > [noun]
earthOE
claya1300
grita1325
groota1400
grounda1400
loama1400
soilc1440
marl1590
terroir1653
dirt1698
dutty1873
OE tr. Felix St. Guthlac (Vercelli) (1909) iv. 117 Wæs þær in þam sprecenan iglande sum mycel hlæw of eorþan geworht.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xx. 24 Ac weorcað weofod of eorðan [L. de terra], & offriað uppan ðam onsægednyssa.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9887 Cnihtes..mid eorðe & mid stanen stepne hul makeden.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 740 (MED) Bigan he þere for to erþe, A litel hus to maken of erþe.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvi. i. 825 Grauel and sonde is more harde in substaunce þanne erþe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 928 Vnto þat erth þou was of tan.
1447–8 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) ii. 89 (MED) Erthe, robill and donge and other fylthis.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1546) sig. C.v To graue..in erthe, and other sculptures.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 69 To eate Flies, and now & then among to eate crummie and dry earth.
1607 R. Parker Scholasticall Disc. against Antichrist i. ii. §31. 107 The Emperour of Æthiopia when he goeth foorth, hath a Crosse carried before him, and an earthen pitcher full of earth.
1664 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense 60 in Sylva Now is your Season for Circumposition by Tubs or Baskets of Earth.
1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 4 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) Mould, Sand, Gravil or Clay (all which I call Earth).
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VIII. 93 Mason Bees make their cells with a sort of mortar, made of earth.
1803 Gazetteer Scotl. at Blane Alternate strata of earth and limestone.
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xiv. 213 The envoys..undertook to give earth and water.
1909 Times 26 Mar. 19/1 The road bed consists of 6in. of one to six concrete laid on rammed earth.
1967 S. Mackay Old Crow i. 10 She had lumps of dry earth in her hair.
2000 J. Connolly Dark Hollow i. Prol. 29 I return to Scarborough and fill in the grave myself, spadefuls of earth carefully falling on the pine casket.
b. Clay used for making pottery.porcelain, pot, tile earth, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > clay > [noun] > suitable for pottery
eartha1350
pot earth?a1450
slip1640
blue clay1698
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > clay > [noun] > for making pottery
eartha1350
potter's clay?a1425
potter's earth1440
pot earth?a1450
argil1530
pot clay1674
throwing clay1686
figuline1859
pottery clay1869
a1350 Recipe Painting in Archæol. Jrnl. (1844) 1 65 (MED) Tac a vessel of eorthe, other of treo.
1463 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 41 My best gay cuppe of erthe kevvryd.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Svii He wolde euer be serued in vesselles of erthe.
a1555 J. Philpot tr. C. S. Curione Def. Authority Christ's Church in R. Eden Exam. & Writings J. Philpot (1842) (modernized text) 340 Hath not the pot-maker power to form out of that same clam of earth that one vessel for an honourable use, and that other for contemptuous and vilenous?
1621 H. Ainsworth Annot. Five Bks. Moses & Bk. Psalmes Leviticus xi. 33 Vessels of Pot-bakers earth.
1660 Act 12 Chas. II iv. Sched. at Bottles Bottles..of Earth or Stone the dozen.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Retort,..a round, bellied Vessel, either of Earth or Glass.
1763 Ann. Reg. 1762 138/1 Athenæus..describes this vase to be of baked earth.
1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel I. xi. 295 You are the vase of earth, beware of knocking yourself against the vase of iron.
1852 Mrs P. Sinnett tr. É. R. Huc Recoll. Journey Tartary, Thibet, & China 300 They all carried in their hands a pot of baked earth.
1926 R. Karsten Civilization S. Amer. Indians xi. 365 The earth, before it was used for the fabrication of the clay vessels, was ground in big stone mortars.
1948 Li Ch'iao-p'ing Chem. Arts Old China ii. 21 The oven used in this case is made of earth or earthenware.
2001 Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nexis) 16 Nov. Lanelle Abueva's special, handmade tiles and pottery..are used at length on kitchen splashboards and bathroom walls, enlivening countertops with fired earth.
†c. In sugar-refining: a layer of earth or clay spread over raw sugar. Cf. clay n. 5, earthed adj. 2. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > sugar manufacture > [noun] > substance used in
temper1657
earth1752
1752 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) at Sugar When the second earth is taken off, they cleanse the surface of the sugar with a brush.
14. figurative. Chiefly literary and poetic.
a. The material of the human body, considered as derived from the ground; the human body or its substance. Frequently in earth to earth with allusion to the Book of Common Prayer (see quot. 1549), Cf. clay n. 4a, mould n.1 2a.Though now regarded as a figurative use, this (originally) theological sense was not so considered until the modern period.
[In quot. 1549 ultimately with allusion to Genesis 3:19; compare:
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. iii. 19 In the sweate of thy face shalt thou eate thy bred, tyll thou be turned agayne vnto earth [Heb. ʿal-haāḏāmah, L. in terram], whence thou art take: for earth thou art, and vnto earth shalt thou be turned agayne [Heb. ḵi-ʿāp̱̱ār 'atāh wĕʿel-ʿāpār tašōḇ, L. quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris].
Coverdale's use of the same English word to translate two different Latin and Hebrew words in this passage follows either the Septuagint (which uses ancient Greek γῆ in both cases), or Luther's German translation of 1523 (which uses Erde in both cases), or both of these.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > [noun]
lichamc888
bodyeOE
earthOE
lichOE
bone houseOE
dustc1000
fleshOE
utter mana1050
bonesOE
bodiȝlichc1175
bouka1225
bellyc1275
slimec1315
corpsec1325
vesselc1360
tabernaclec1374
carrion1377
corsec1386
personc1390
claya1400
carcass1406
lump of claya1425
sensuality?a1425
corpusc1440
God's imagea1450
bulka1475
natural body1526
outward man1526
quarrons1567
blood bulk1570
skinfula1592
flesh-rind1593
clod1595
anatomy1597
veil1598
microcosm1601
machine1604
outwall1608
lay part1609
machina1612
cabinet1614
automaton1644
case1655
mud wall1662
structure1671
soul case1683
incarnation1745
personality1748
personage1785
man1830
embodiment1850
flesh-stuff1855
corporeity1865
chassis1930
soma1958
OE Guthlac B 1366 Nu se eorðan dæl, banhus abrocen burgum in innan wunað wælræste, ond se wuldres dæl of licfæte in leoht godes sigorlean sohte.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) i. 181 God..cwæð þæt he wolde wyrcan mannan of eorðan.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxi. 348 Ða ða Adam agylt hæfde, ða cwæð se ælmihtiga wealdend him to, þu eart eorðe & þu gewentst to eorþan.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) iii. 19 On swate ðines andwlitan ðu brycst ðines hlafes, oð ðæt ðu gewende to eorðan of ðære ðe ðu genumen wære, for ðan ðe ðu eart dust & to duste gewyrst.
c1300 St. Francis (Laud) 444 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 66 (MED) Huy leten him ligge..on þe grounde, Þat eorþe miȝhte on eorþe deiȝe.
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 427 (MED) Þan es a man noght elles to say Bot askes and pouder, erthe and clay.
a1450 York Plays 15 Rise vppe, þou erthe, in bloode and bone, In shappe of man.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Buriall f. xxiiii*v Earth to earth, asshes to asshes, dust to dust.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets cxlvi. sig. I3 Poore soule the center of my sinfull earth.
1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Maides Trag. v. sig. L2v This earth of mine doth tremble, and I feele A starke affrighted motion in my bloud.
1745 tr. G. Blas Henry & Blanche 58 No pious Maid to shed the pitying Tear, Give Earth to Earth, or stretch me on the Bier.
1822 P. B. Shelley Hellas 21 The indignant spirit cast its mortal garment Among the slain—dead earth upon the earth.
1866 Friends' Intelligencer 8 Sept. 429/1 When he was buried mere earth went to earth.
a1963 L. MacNiece Coll. Poems (1979) 413 Confirming its uniqueness and the worth Of life, I think a death too does the same, Confirming and extending. Earth to earth.
1982 A. Green tr. M. Nahum Light of Eyes in Upright Pract. & Light of Eyes 76 He is completely humble, thinking of himself as nothing at all, considering his corporeal self to be mere ‘earth’.
†b. Dull worthless matter, as typified by the material of the ground. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless > types of
eggshell1550
new nothing1577
earth?1592
shuck1851
putty medal1893
garbage can1922
?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda i. sig. C3 What is iewels, or what is gould but earth.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II iii. iv. 79 Darst thou thou little better thing than earth Diuine his downefall? View more context for this quotation
a1800 W. Cowper Comm. on Caraccioli in Lett. & Prose Writings (1986) V. 180 Gold is only Earth exhibiting itself to us under a particular Modification.
†c. With disparaging implication: precious metal. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [noun]
ore?c1225
plate1559
earth1612
precious metal1629
1612 W. Parkes Curtaine-drawer 26 My bagges are full..with the white and red earth of the world.
15. Chiefly History of Science and Astrology. Earth (sense 13a) as one of the four or more elements (element n. 1, 9a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > alchemy > alchemical elements > [noun] > earth
earthOE
terra damnataa1637
OE Ælfric De Temporibus Anni (Cambr. Gg.3.28) x. §9. 74 Nis nan lichamlic ðing þe næbbe ða feower gesceafta him mid, þæt is lyft & fyr, eorðe & wæter.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11504 Manness bodiȝ feȝedd iss Off fowwre kinne shaffte, Off heoffness fir, & off þe lifft, Off waterr, & off eorþe.
c1300 St. Michael (Laud) l. 667 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 318 (MED) Of þis foure elemenz ech quic þing I-make is, Of eorþe, of watur, and of þe eyr, and of fuyre, i-wis.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 224 (MED) Foure elementz ther ben diverse; The ferste of hem men erthe calle, Which is the lowest of hem alle.
c1450 (?c1400) tr. Honorius Augustodunensis Elucidarium (1909) 5 (MED) Þe upper element, þat is þe fijre..þe myddel element, þat is watir..þe ynner partye of þe watir, þat is þe eyre..þe last element, þat is þe erþe.
1564 P. Moore Hope of Health i. iii. 5 The yearth is the loweste and heauiest element.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. v. 264 You should not rest Betweene the elements of ayre, and earth . View more context for this quotation
1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. III. i. 151 He held that there are four Elements, Fire, Aire, Water, Earth.
1725 I. Watts Logick i. ii. §2 The chemist makes spirit, salt, sulphur, water, and earth, to be their five elements.
a1774 O. Goldsmith Surv. Exper. Philos. (1776) II. 4 Some have thought that air is nothing more than earth or water expanded, and assuming a more subtil form.
1852 A. Jones Hist. Sketch Electric Telegraph Pref. p. vii The period of Paracelsus..when the one element was extended to four—water, air, earth, and fire.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. iv. 45 In the alchemistic period, Aristotle's four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, were replaced by the three principles, mercury, sulphur, and salt.
1987 S. T. Dukes Chinese Hand Anal. vi. 52 In this hand the governing order is fire, air, earth, then water.
1991 C. Mansall Discover Astrol. iii. 31/1 The next main division of the zodiac is the grouping of three signs according to the four fundamental natures, Fire, Earth, Air and Water, more usually called the Elements or the Triplicities.
2002 Observer 7 July (Mag.) 64/3 Obesity (medovridhi) is a disturbance of kapha dosha—earth and water elements, according to Ayurveda.
16. Chemistry. A substance having the properties of stability, dryness, non-volatility, lack of smell, etc., associated with earth (sense 13a); (in later use) spec. any of certain metallic oxides with these properties, as magnesia, alumina, and zirconia. Now chiefly historical (except with certain distinguishing words).alkaline, fuller's, muriatic, ponderous, rare earth: see the first element. See also Phrases 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > [noun] > earths
eartha1475
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > oxygen > [noun] > compounds > oxides
alkaline earth1716
oxide1788
earth1863–79
nickel spinel1961
a1475 Bk. Quinte Essence (1889) 13 (MED) Putte it to þe fier of flawme riȝt strong, and þe reed water schal ascende..and to ȝou schal remayne an erþe riȝt blak in þe botum.
a1550 ( G. Ripley Compend of Alchemy (Bodl. e Mus.) f. 45v (MED) Iff the water also be egall in proporcion To the erth.
1706 tr. F. de la Calmette Riverius Reformatus 417 Alkalies, which are divided in many Species..Stones, Shells, Earths, Metals.
a1728 J. Woodward Attempt Nat. Hist. Fossils Eng. (1729) 1 (heading) Earths or bodies opake, insipid, and, when dried, friable, or consisting of Parts easy to separate, soluble in Water.
1751 J. Hill Hist. Materia Medica 177 The five Genera of Earths are, 1. Boles, 2. Clays, 3. Marls, 4. Ochres, 5. Tripelas.
1788 J. St. John tr. L. B. Guyton de Morveau et al. Method Chym. Nomencl. 58 The earths..silice..alumine.
1791 W. Hamilton tr. C.-L. Berthollet Elements Art of Dyeing I. i. i. i. 22 They unite with acids, alkalis..and some earths, principally alumine.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. i. 11 Four Earths generally abound in soils, the aluminous, the siliceous, the calcareous, and the magnesian.
1863–79 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 360 Earths, this name is applied to the oxides of the metals, barium, strontium, etc.
1906 H. J. H. Fenton Notes Qualitative Anal. (new ed.) 155 Ammonia in presence of ammonium chloride may precipitate..Ce, Nd, Pr, (Nb and Ta) and Yttrium earths as hydroxides.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xxxiv. 652 The tervalency which appears in all their compounds and which is quite as fixed a characteristic of the earths as the bivalency of the alkaline earths.
1965 C. S. G. Phillips & R. J. P. Williams Inorg. Chem. I. ii. 46 There occurs a group of 14 elements, the lanthanides or rare-earths, in which the 4f sub-shell is filled.
2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten v. 48 One could get a similar brilliant light by heating several other earths—zirconia, thoria, magnesia.
17. = earth colour n. 1. Frequently with distinguishing word. Cf. earth pigment n. at Compounds 8b.Cassel, Cologne, Italian, Melian, Persian earth, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [noun] > types of
lac1558
purpurin1558
colourish1598
earth1598
watercolour1598
earth colour1658
encaustic1662
lake1684
virgin tint1706
mosaic gold1746
bronze1753
gold bronze1769
cake colour1784
musive gold1796
sap-colour1816
repaint1827
moist colour1842
bronze powder1846
wax-colour1854
wax pigment1854
bitumen1855
chrome garnet1876
zinc-dust1877
zinc-powder1881
terra nera1882
earth pigment1900
1598 R. Haydocke tr. G. P. Lomazzo Tracte Artes Paintinge iii. iv. 99 Reddes are made..of the red earth called Maiolica, otherwise browne of spaine.
a1650 E. Norgate Miniatura (Tanner 326) (1919) 15 Cologne Earth unburnt..is a very good colour for deepe shadowes.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 149/2 Terra Uert, a green Earth used in Painting.
1735 Dict. Polygraph. II. sig. Kkvv Indian-red, or Persian-earth, is what we improperly call English-red.
1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. i. iii. 105 A Roman cinereal urn of a gravelly brown earth.
1844 J. Gregg Commerce of Prairies I. 278 This kind of crockery..is often fancifully painted with colored earths.
1968 Encycl. Brit. XV. 132/1 The Melian earth was employed as a pigment by ancient artists.
2001 P. Ball Bright Earth vi. 163 His [sc. Rembrandt's] blacks (charcoal and bone black) and browns (including Cologne earth, as it would then have been called) are supplemented by most of the earth colours.

Phrases

P1. (the) salt of the earth: see salt n.1 3a.
P2. on (also upon) earth: in existence, in the world.
a. As an intensifier following a superlative or an inclusive or exclusive expression, as nothing on earth, etc. Cf. world n. Phrases 4a.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 336 He arærde gode to wurðmynte þæt tempel.., swilc hus swa nan oðer næs næfre on eorðan aræred.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2072 He somenede færd swulc nes næuere eær on erde [c1300 Otho erþe].
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 892 Þe uglokest unhap þat ever on erd suffred.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 271 Of my gracious goddis, þe grettest on erde.
1542 M. Coverdale tr. H. Bullinger Golden Bk. Christen Matrimonye xv. sig. lxv Thys is my worthy and precious treasure, that..is to me dearer then all the Jewels vpon earth.
a1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) sig. Hij Were there euer such frindes on earth as were these two?
1680 Don Tomazo 140 Assure your self, nothing on Earth shall labour more to retaliate those your Favours.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. x. 232 I must be the most ungrateful Monster upon Earth.
1774 O. Goldsmith Retaliation 103 With no reason on earth to go out of his way, He turn'd and he varied full ten times a day.
1847 J. W. Carlyle Let. 15 July (1883) I. 389 If I could have done anything on earth but cry.
1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age 29 I've got the biggest scheme on earth—and I'll take you in!
1910 P. G. Wodehouse Psmith in City xviii. 158 Master Edward Waller..in frocks, looking like a gargoyle;..in sailor suit, looking like nothing on earth.
1950 D. Cooper Operation Heartbreak Prol. 9 Now, a whisky-and-soda was the one thing on earth that the Military Attaché most wanted.
1994 Dog World Feb. 57/1 Crufts! Is it the greatest dog show on earth?
b. Intensifying an interrogative word or phrase: see what pron., adv., int., adj.1, conj., and n. Phrases 1i, who pron. and n. Phrases 3b, etc. Cf. world n. Phrases 4b.
ΚΠ
OE Genesis A (1931) 1002 Ða worde frægn wuldres aldor Cain, hwær Abel eorðan wære.]
1591 E. Spenser Muiopotmos in Complaints sig. V2v But what on earth can long abide in state?
1677 I. Barrow Serm. Passion 5 Where on earth, among the degenerate sons of Adam, could be found such an High Priest, as became us?
1762 Almira I. 92 What on earth can be, So lovely as Sweet constancy.
1795 E. Fenwick Secresy III. i Who upon earth would imagine, in a seclusion so perfect, this girl would..dupe a whole family?
1859 Princess Royal Let. 26 Aug. in Dearest Child (1964) 207 I cannot see what on earth he can have of very urgent business here in November.
1876 R. Broughton Joan I. i. xiii. 268 You people really have the worst small beer in Europe! where on earth did you get it from?
1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 128 Why on earth was she making this dead set at him?
1930 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Jan. 28/2 ‘Who on earth is she?’ gasped the visitor from Woop-Woop.
1958 Oxf. Mag. 13 Nov. 94/2 What on earth is the point of any sort of criticism if it isn't practical?
2003 S. Mawer Fall (2004) x. 146 ‘Oh, I couldn't.’ He wiped the saddle of the bike and climbed astride it. ‘Why on earth not? Hop on.’
P3. the ends (also end) of (the) earth and variants: the farthest limits of the earth; the most remote place on earth; (also) people from all parts of the earth. Chiefly used hyperbolically. Cf. world's end n. 2. [After various post-classical Latin phrases containing terra, e.g. omnes fines terrae, a summitatibus terrae, usque ad ultimum terrae, de finibus terrae, all attested in the Vulgate (see examples in quots.), in turn after various Hellenistic Greek phrases containing γῆ (e.g. πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς , ἀπ' ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς , ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς , ἀπ' ἄκρου τῆς γῆς ) in the Septuagint and the New Testament; of these, the Old Testament passages render various biblical Hebrew phrases containing 'ereṣ earth, land, country, ground. Compare Old Dutch erendi (in a gloss on the Vulgate), Old High German erdenti , lit ‘earth-end’. Compare also world-end n. at world n. Compounds 8.]
ΚΠ
OE Blickling Homilies 93 Þy syxtan dæge..biþ from feower endum þære eorþan eall middangeard mid awergdum gastum gefylled.
lOE Canterbury Psalter lxvi. 8 Et benedicat nos deus et metuant eum omnes fines terrae: bletsige us god & ondredon hine eælle endes eorðæn.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Jer. xxv. 32 A greet whirlwynd schal go out fro the endis of erthe. And the slayn men of the Lord schulen be..fro the ende of the erthe til to the ende ther of [L. a summitatibus terrae].
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. lxxiv And all the endes of the erthe shal worshipe the Nacions shal come to the fro ferre and bryngyng yeftes shal worshype in the our lord.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Acts i. A Ye shal receaue the power of ye holy goost, which shal come vpon you, and ye shalbe my witnesses at Ierusalem, and in all Iewrye and Samaria, and vnto the ende of the earth [Gk. ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς, L. usque ad ultimum terrae].
1634 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. 111 I cannot but think, seeing the ends of the earth are given to Christ (and Scotland is the end of the earth, and so we are in Christ's charter-talizie) but our Lord will keep His possession.
1686 J. Scott Christian Life: Pt. II II. vii. 1169 Spreading..even to the utmost ends of the Earth.
1848 C. Brontë Let. 2 June (2000) II. 70 The sunshine seems to set all your expectations astir, and once bent on amusement, they will come to the ends of the earth in search thereof.
1895 P. Gardner in P. Gardner & F. B. Jevons Man. Greek Antiq. ii. i. 70 Zeus set [sic] forth two eagles from the two ends of the earth and they met at Delphi, whence the Omphalos at Delphi was regarded as the centre of the world.
a1917 M. B. Bishop Tidal Years & Other Poems (1929) 27 Let all the ends of earth uphold His majesty.
1928 Collier's 22 Sept. 26 The amateur radio ‘hams’ have the ends of the earth for neighbors.
1969 M. St. Just Let. 17 Nov. in T. Williams Five O'Clock Angel (1991) 198 I will happily come to the ends of the earth to see you and give you any comfort.
1990 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Dec. 181/3 To the sophisticates of Bonn and Berlin, Ludwigshafen may be the end of the earth.
2005 Food & Trav. Feb.–Mar. 68/3 It is a nice surprise to travel to the ends of the earth and find Beatrix Potterish rusticity and ladies with secateurs.
†P4.
a. to lose earth: to lose ground. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1450 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i. l. 13860 (MED) Þey wyþ-drowen hem, & erþe þey les.
b. to win earth on: to gain ground on. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1500 (?a1400) Sir Torrent of Portyngale (1887) l. 656 Twenty fote he gard hyme goo, Thus erthe on hym he wane.
P5. to move heaven and earth: see heaven n. Phrases 4.
P6. With of, denoting kinds of earth (sense 16), chiefly ones obtained from a specified substance. Now historical. earth of alum n. aluminium oxide. earth of vitriol n. iron oxide.
ΚΠ
1668 L. Colson Philosophia Maturata 49 With the ferment of Lune altered, thou mayst fix the white Earth of Vitriol.
1748 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. I. 12 Heavy, friable, red Bole, call'd Seal'd Earth of Livonia.
1779 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 69 24 It is evident that skirl contains nearly as much earth of allum as the Cornish porcellane clay.
1796 R. Heron tr. A.-F. de Fourcroy Elements Chem. & Nat. Hist. II. 423 What remains is a red insipid earth, which is pure oxide of iron, and is called mild earth of vitriol.
1822 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. I. ix. 200 Pure alumina, or earth of alum, is distinguished among the elementary earths by its tendency to mix..with water.
1958 L. Thorndike Hist. Magic & Exper. Sci. VII. vi. 168 The Latin translation from the Italian was printed at Geneva in 1613. It was in two parts, the first treating of spirit of vitriol, oil of vitriol, salt of vitriol, earth of vitriol, vitriol rectified, [etc.].
1996 D. R. Oldroyd Thinking about Earth iii. 69 He dissolved alum in water, filtered the solution, and precipitated it with alkali, giving ‘earth of alum’.
P7. (In sense 5.)
a. to run to earth: to chase (a hunted animal) to an earth; (frequently figurative) to capture or find (a person or thing) after a long search.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > seizing > catching or capture > catch or capture [verb (transitive)] > after a search
to run to earth1815
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering II. 322 It wad be a sair thing to leave the blessed sun, and the free air, and gang and be killed, like a tod that's run to earth, in a dungeon like that.
1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. x. 312 Frightened; beat; run to earth myself, though I talked so bravely of running others to earth just now.
1876 A. S. Palmer Leaves from Word-hunter's Notebk. Pref. p. viii I have run it [sc. a word] to earth in a Sanscrit root.
1888 Spectator 7 Jan. 20/2 All the men who helped to run to earth the various members of the Ruthven family..were richly rewarded.
1915 Truth (Sydney) 13 June 10/3 The police are continually running these dingoes of society to earth.
1953 ‘F. O'Connor’ Stories 63 Eventually he would run her to earth in some snug with a couple of cronies.
2006 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 6 July b3 In the case of the individual fox that gets run to earth by a pack of slavering dogs, the end is not pretty.
b. to go to earth: (of a hunted animal) to hide in an earth; (frequently figurative) to go into hiding, to lie low.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > take or seek refuge [verb (intransitive)]
bield?a1400
to hide one's headc1475
shroud1579
subterfuge1622
refuge1640
to take refuge1667
haven1742
to go to earth1820
to hole up1875
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, lie or hidden [verb (intransitive)] > go into hiding
to take squat1583
cavea1616
hole1631
to go to earth1820
1820 Sporting Mag. Mar. 298/1 This fox ran a deal of ground, and tried frequently to go to earth, but to no purpose.
1861 L. Wraxall tr. A. Esquiros Eng. at Home I. viii. 158 After going to earth to some extent in order to escape death, the gipsies showed themselves again.
1913 Punch 26 Feb. 153/1 Men who used to go to earth behind evening papers on the entrance of a woman now spring to their feet in platoons without a moment's hesitation.
1917 M. Webb (title) Gone to Earth.
1950 R. Macaulay World my Wilderness xvi. 194 The policeman..turned back to assist his colleagues in flushing Barbary, so mysteriously gone to earth.
1990 BBC Wildlife July 480/2 I went..on a foxhunt, and the fox went to earth.
2000 J. Connolly Dark Hollow i. ix. 159 I've asked around, but he's gone to earth.
P8. down to earth: see down to earth adv. and adj..
P9. to come down to earth with a bang: see bang n.1 Additions.
P10. colloquial. to feel the earth move and variants: to experience a sensation of (esp. sexual) ecstasy. Similarly to make the earth move, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > pleasurable excitement > [verb (intransitive)] > experience sexual ecstasy or climax
to get off1867
to feel the earth move1940
climax1971
orgasm1973
1940 E. Hemingway For whom Bell Tolls xiii. 160 ‘Did thee feel the earth move?’ ‘Yes. As I died. Put thy arm around me, please.’
1975 ‘D. Jordan’ Black Acct. xxxi. 158 Guy stared at her and I fancy it was at that moment that the earth began to move under him.
1986 Times 25 June 19/5 When she..tears into ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ you can feel the earth shifting under your feet.
1987 ‘M. Yorke’ Evidence to Destroy x. 97 I was in bed with your daughter, trying to make the earth move for her.
2001 Daily Star (Nexis) 1 Aug. 3 We have what it takes for you to feel the earth move, from massage lotions to sex toys.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.
a. With the sense ‘of or relating to the surface of the earth’, as earth movement, earth throe, etc. See also earth-rind n., earth tremor n. at Compounds 8b, earthdin n., earthquake n., etc.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xl. 525 Oft eorþstyrung gehwær fela burga ofhreas.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1117 Seo mycele eorðbyfung on Lumbardige, forhwan manega mynstras..& huses gefeollon.
1869 Nature 11 Nov. 54/2 It was the action of the earth-throe on the ocean which caused the greatest devastation.
1937 S. W. Wooldridge & R. S. Morgan Physical Basis Geogr. x. 133 Great masses of metamorphic rock..have resulted from..regional metamorphism, i.e. deep burial of rock masses..due to earth-movement.
1993 Omni Oct. 114/4 The noise is caused by seismic slips, or small earth movements, along fault lines.
b. With the sense ‘of or relating to the world or earth’, as earth-child, earth-lord, earth-magic, earth-noise, earth-pole, earth-power, earth-surface, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE Metres of Boethius xx. 194 Men habbæð geond middangeard eorðgesceafta ealla oferþungen.
OE Exodus 392 Se snottra sunu Dauides.., eorðcyninga se wisesta on woruldrice.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 47 (MED) Heo on eorðe ȝeueð reste to alle eorðe þrelles, wepmen and wifmen, of heore þrel weorkes.
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) l. 25875 Ȝef þou hart erþ cniht [Calig. eorðlic cniht].
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae 146 And pes to man on erthe grownde.
1629 J. Gaule Practique Theories Christs Predict. 42 The Earth-Lords [sc. Adam's] honour now layd in the dust.
1702 B. Morrice Muse's Treat 144 Without Earth surface, obvious to Heaven's eyes, A boisterous part of my Dominions lies.
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 30 From the earth-poles to the Line.
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 39 Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs.
1850 Browning Poems II. 435 I can hear it 'Twixt my spirit And the earth~noise, intervene.
1887 Spectator 7 May 626/1 The earth-powers which dwell in the billows, the rain, the frost, and the air.
1901 ‘L. Malet’ Hist. Richard Calmady vi. x. 603 All this, the unity and secrecy of the place..circling them about with something of earth-magic.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 2 June 6/2 Earth-child, struggle no more.
1972 J. Fire & R. Erdoes Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions x. 181 The steam [of the sweat house] stops at the skin, but that earth-power penetrates your body and mind.
1990 D. Schimel in J. Leggett Global Warming iii. 78 Complex feedbacks in the Earth System can produce unexpected and potent responses.
c. With the sense ‘of, from, or relating to the ground’, ‘dwelling or existing on, near, or below the surface of the ground’, as earth-beetle, earth-bird, earth-damp, earth-hole, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xxviii. 197 He [sc. David] wæs gehyd on anum eorðscræfe mid his monnum.
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 81 Tauri, eorðceaperas [read eorðceaferas].
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 139 He turnde..fro mennes wunienge to wilde deores, and ches þere crundel to halle and eorðhole to bure.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 106 Þeose..beoð eorð briddes. & nisteð on þe orðe.
c1390 (a1325) Ipotis (Vernon) 167 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 343 (MED) God maade Adam..of þinges seuene..Erþe-slym was on of þo.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 386 (MED) Of erþe farne [L. politrici].
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 379 A kind of earth-beetles called tauri, i. Buls.
1664 H. Oldenburg Let. 25 Aug. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 301 He affirms, that the Earthdamp is a vapor not at all visible.
1724 J. Saunders Compl. Fisherman 230 A common Earth Grub.
1814 W. Scott Waverley II. xiv. 221 The light usually carried by a miner..certain to be extinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of earth-damps or pestiferous vapours. View more context for this quotation
1854 Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 1853 22 527 They are sometimes found on the surface of the ground in rainy weather, but are generally dug out of the earth. They are called earth-snakes by the natives.
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart iv. 29 The young tendrils were protected from earth-heat with rings of sisal leaves.
1992 Rodale Bk. Composting (new ed.) x. 196 At earth level over the pit he placed a rectangular, bottomless and topless, wooden box of slightly larger dimensions than the hole.
d.
(a) With the sense ‘made of soil or earth’, as earth-bank, earth-bottom, earth-mound, earth-wall, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xxix. 366 Þa gesohte he him nearo wic & wununesse, ond þa mid dice & mid eorðwealle [L. aggere] utan ymbsealde & gefæstnode.
OE Beowulf (2008) 2957 Gewat him ða se goda mid his gædelingum, frod felageomor fæsten secean..; beah eft þonan eald under eorðweall.
1175 in W. H. Stevenson Rep. MSS Ld. Middleton (1911) 12 In altera erþmerche del est de Serdebege ubi marlere exstat.
a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 506 To repaire and hold vp the erthe walles.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. iii. l. 25 Hys first mansioun..With turettis, fowsy and erd dikis ilk deill.
c1600 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughman's Crede (Trin. Cambr. R.3.15) l. 157 Swich a bild bold, y-buld opon erþe heiȝte.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. ii. 793 Doth not Bede write in plaine tearmes, after he had spoken of the Earth-wall, at Abercuruing in Scotland, that a wall was reared of strong stone where Severus had made his of turfe?
1706 tr. E. Y. Ides Three Years Trav. Moscow to China x. 55 The Naunda is very broad, provided with high Sand and Earth banks on each side.
1764 Skeffling Inclosure Act 9 The earth-bank, or breast-work..against the river.
1875 R. W. Emerson Immortality in Wks. (1906) III. 280 The Pyramids..and cromlechs and earth-mounds much older.
1883 F. G. Heath in Cent. Mag. Dec. 169/1 Over the original earth-bottom of the cave is a bed or layer of considerable thickness.
1884 H. R. Haweis in Longman's Mag. Dec. 191 The earth-envelope of mind is not the measure of mind.
1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 103 A snake came to my water-trough... He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom.
1956 S. H. Bell Erin's Orange Lily ix. 136 One old man..remembered when the earth floors of the ruins around his house were polished by the traffic of feet.
2001 S. Roaf et al. Ecohouse (2002) vi. 132 It has been shown that judicious placing of earth banks around houses can cause fires to jump buildings.
(b) With the sense ‘characteristic of or resembling soil or earth’, as earth-smell, earth-tint, earth-tone, etc. See also earth colour n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [noun] > other browns
umberc1568
Spanish brown1660
earth colour1688
raw umber1702
iron brown1714
clove-brown1794
raw sienna1797
wood-brown1805
moorit1809
coffee1815
oak1815
burnt almond1850
Vandyke brown1850
Turk's head1853
catechu brown1860
oak brown1860
mummy brown1861
walnut-brown1865
Havana1873
havana brown1875
wax-brown1887
box1889
nutria1897
caramel1909
wallflower brown1913
cigar1923
desert-brown1923
sunburn1923
tobacco1923
maple1926
butterscotch1927
walnut1934
snuff1951
mink1955
toffee1960
sludge1962
earth-tone1973
1814 C. I. Johnstone Saxon & Gaël III. 189 I think she'll no put owre this night. The wauch earth smell is about her already.
1865 Daily Tel. 27 Oct. 3/1 The colour of these tiles is a deep earth-tint.
1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 14 The air was wine, the moist earth-smell wine.
1942 T. S. Eliot Little Gidding i. 7 There is no earth smell Or smell of living thing.
1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow i. 149 All in some nameless earth tone—a hedge-green, a clay-brown, a touch of oxidation, a breath of the autumnal.
1984 Homes & Land in Gatorland (Florida) 17 Apr. 3/1 (advt.) Fieldstone complements this cheerful 3 bdr. Decorated in earthtones.
e. Relating to the earth in relation to its conduction of electricity (cf. sense 6a), as earth resistance, earth spike, etc. See also earth connection n., earth return n. 1.
ΚΠ
1866 R. M. Ferguson Electricity 243 The earth resistance to the current..is next to nothing.
1913 J. Erskine-Murray Handbk. Wireless Telegr. (ed. 4) xix. 367 (heading) The radiation efficiency, earth resistance and other constants of a transmitter.
1985 C. S. Ward Anaesthetic Equipm. (ed. 2) xix. 313/1 The second method of improving safety is to install a current-operated earth-leakage circuit breaker (COELCB, also known as an ‘earth trip’).
1998 New Scientist 28 Nov. 57/2 I am installing an earth spike to securely earth the network of pipes.
f. Chiefly Astrology. Designating, relating to, or characteristic of a person born under an earth sign or otherwise associated with the element earth (cf. sense 15). Cf. earth sign n. at Compounds 8b.
ΚΠ
1877 A. Keary in Auld Lang Syne: Select. Papers ‘Pen & Pencil Club’ 86 He divides people into earth, air, fire, and water people... [Jacob] Böhme was an earth person himself, he says so.
1896 E. Kirk Libra 167 The lesson for the earth people is aspiration, a turning away from the things of sense, material pleasure, and ambition.
1916 D. R. P. Marquis Hermione 27 Papa is an Earth Person entirely. I've got his horoscope. He isn't at all spiritual.
1941 M. E. Jones Astrol. vii. 170 The air and earth temperaments are essentially focused in the moment.
1970 Press-Courier (Oxnard, Calif.) 26 June 10/2 Fire eyes are sparkling and daring; air eyes are alert and intelligent; water eyes are soulful and mysterious; earth eyes are honest and direct.
1990 M. J. Abadie & C. Bader Love Planets xiii. 147 If you're predominately Air, you might find that Earth types drive you bananas.
2008 E. Dugan How to enchant Man iv. 86 The air sign enjoys the security and stability that an earth person brings to the relationship.
C2. Objective.
a. In branch I., as earth-baking, earth-convulsing, earth-delving, earth-incinerating, earth-piercing, earth-worker, etc. See also earthquaking adj., earth-tiller n., earth-tilling n., etc.
ΚΠ
1594 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis (new ed.) sig. Eiij Where earth-deluing Conies keepe.
1598 J. Dickenson Greene in Conceipt 34 Earth-incinerating Aetnas wombe big swolne with flames.
1601 2nd Pt. Returne from Pernassus iii. iv. 1390 If his earth wroting snout shall gin to scorne.
1781 J. Sharp Acc. Pensilvanian Stove-grates 12/2 Boring Tools for Earth Boring.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound iv. i. 138 Earth-convulsing behemoth.
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 75 Earth-baking heat.
1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 206 The broad and upturned base Of that earth-piercing altar pyramid.
1926 Missionary Rec. United Free Ch. Scotl. Apr. 168/1 The spirit of the Secession is strong among the shepherds & ‘earth-workers’ of the Scottish Border.
1966 J. Sankey Chalkland Ecol. iv. 84 An earth-boring tool was used to obtain samples of 1.1 × 103 cm3.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 10 Mar. i. 6/4 A top priority is improving ‘earth-penetrating weapons’ that could be used to destroy underground installations and hardened bunkers.
b. In branch II.
(a) With present participles, as earth-destroying, earth-devouring, earth-embracing, earth-refreshing, earth-treading, earth-vexing, etc.
ΚΠ
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. ii. 23 Earth treadding stars, that make darke heauen light. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) v. v. 136 This earth-vexing smart. View more context for this quotation
1627 M. Drayton Moone-calfe in Battaile Agincourt 156 The earrh [sic] refreshing Sunne..his golden head doth runne, Farre vnder vs.
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 33/2 The Earth, and Earth-embracing Sea, did Shake.
a1657 G. Daniel Poems (1878) I. 24 High, and purged Soules Leave Time and Place, to dull earthporing fooles.
1683 J. Mason Spiritual Songs xxx. 66 Fear not the Trumps Earth-rending Sound, Dread not the Day of Doom.
1748 A. Dutto Hints Glory of Christ 38 Was ever Love like this? Oh Heaven-astonishing, Earth-amazing, and Hell-confounding Love?
1755 J. Grainger Ode Solitude iii. 7 Rapt earth-gazing Resvery, Blushing artless..Modesty, Seek the solitary Wild.
1797 Parnassian Garland 13 Is there a State,..Who..Mocks the wide waste of earth-devouring Time?
1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III xci. 50 The peak Of earth-o'ergazing mountains.
1822 J. G. Lockhart Life Cervantes in P. A. Motteux tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote I. p. lix The shrewd, earth-seeking, yet affectionate Sancho.
1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 108 The sacrificial ox, Earth-embleming.
1883 Proctor in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 566 The earth-fashioning power of vulcanian forces.
1886 R. A. Proctor in 19th Cent. May 692 A special earth-crossing family of Comets.
a1959 E. Muir Coll. Poems (1984) 259 What present anguish Drew that long dirge from the earth-haunting marvel?
1970 Science 2 Jan. 12/3 Waste products of Soviet and American launches..wander in earth-circling or deep space orbits.
2002 Wicazo Sa Rev. 17 237 Technology..is the earth-destroying work of the white man.
(b) With agent nouns, as earth-holder, earth-subduer, etc.
ΚΠ
a1400 Ancrene Riwle (Pepys) (1976) 131 Þe erþe demer dredeful to biholde & storne.
1801 W. Huntington Bank of Faith 34 Finding nothing could be done with the earth-holders, I..determined to build my stories in the heaven.
1875 E. White Life in Christ (1878) i. i. 3 Wearing so many crowns, as Earth-subduer, Legislator.
1918 G. W. Russell Candle of Vision 172 Gradually the earth lover realises the golden world is all about him in imperishable beauty.
1976 I. Asimov Eyes on Universe vii. 146 Its orbit approached closer to that of earth than any of the major planets... It was the first of the so-called ‘Earth-grazers’ to be discovered.
2004 Independent (Nexis) 14 Nov. 32 You're a rapacious, corrupt, immoral Earth-destroyer.
c. In branch IV., as earth-hauling, earth-maker, earth-scraper, etc.
ΚΠ
1615 T. Adams Spirituall Nauigator 34 in Blacke Devill Earth-scrapers..that would dig to the Center to exhale riches.
1661 K. W. Confused Characters 99 This miserable earth-grubber doth..acquire this trash with vexation.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 182 Potters and Earth-makers, that is to say, People that tamper'd the Earth for the China Ware.
1856 New Eng. Farmer Sept. 402/2 Be a Farmer, not a mere earth scraper.
1875 R. Hill & F. Hill What we saw in Austral. xxiii. 380 We examined..models of..implements for quartz-crushing and earth-washing.
1901 R. Kipling Kim iv. 88 A..blue-petticoated clan of earth-carriers, hurrying north on news of a job.
1953 J. Huxley Evol. in Action iii. 74 The earth-swallowers, earthworms for example.
2000 R. H. Clough et al. Constr. Project Managem. (ed. 4) viii. 169 The temptation to overload equipment in an effort to get more production is especially true with earth-hauling units.
d. In plural (in sense 12), as †earths-amazing adj. (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1624 F. Quarles Iob Militant sig. N4 Iehouah did, at length, vnshrowd His Earths-amazing language.
C3. Locative and originative, as earth-bedded, earth-ejected, earth-made, earth-rooted, earth-sprung, etc.
ΚΠ
OE Lambeth Psalter xlviii. 3 Omnes qui habitatis orbem, Quique terrigene et filii hominum : ealle ge þe oneardiað ymbhwyrfte gehwylce eorðbogiendan & bearn manna.
lOE Canterbury Psalter xlviii. 3 Quique terrigene et filii hominum : & gefylce eorðware uel eordcende [eOE Vespasian Psalter eorðcende] & beærn mænnæ.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1753 A grub, a grege out of grace, ane erd-growyn [Trin. Dub. erth-growen] sorowe.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxvi. 12 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 75 All earth I say, and all earth dwellers, Be of his worth the singing tellers.
1596 C. Fitzgeffry Sir Francis Drake sig. C2 Earth-gaping Chasma's, that mishap aboades.
1614 R. Tailor Hogge hath lost Pearle in I. Reed Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Plays (1780) VI. 412 Tortur'd by the weak assailments Of earth-sprung griefs.
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. D5v This province hence is hight earth-groveling Aptery.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby ii. xv. 76 Yon earth-bedded jetting stone.
1849 J. C. Hare Serm. Preacht Herstmonceux Church II. 416 Everything earth-made has a weight in it which drags it down to earth.
1850 E. B. Browning Poems (new ed.) I. 313 As one God-satisfied and earth-undone.
1881 H. Phillips tr. L. C. A. von Chamisso Faust 15 Woe and wail! earth-born, earth-nurtured!
1886 R. A. Proctor in 19th Cent. May 694 The orbit..had been that of the earth-ejected comet.
1932 L. Lewisohn Story Amer. Lit. (1939) i. 27 A personality and a book so frank and genuine and earth-rooted.
1952 R. Campbell tr. St. John of Cross Poems 87 And so all creatures earth-begot begin from it to turn their glance.
2004 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 7 Oct. Its earth-sprung opening yields to a rapturous baptism, building to a hot and joyful conclusion.
C4. Similative, as earth-long, earth-smelling, earth-wide, etc. See also earth-coloured adj.
ΚΠ
1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. sig. C3 With fleecy wooll, that hung on earth-low brakes.
1864 R. S. Hawker Quest Sangraal 4 The Earthwide Judge, Pilate the Roman.
1893 B. Carman Low Tide on Grand Pré (1894) 85 I watched her earth-brown eyes grow glad.
1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance & Other Poems 55 Earth-long and heaven-outfacing woes.
1988 L. Hogan Savings 69 In the old days she was a god living in dark furrows of earth-smelling earth.
2004 L. Erdrich Four Souls (2005) xi. 139 The cool winey air, earth scented and moldy, rushed at my face as I slipped inside.
C5. Instrumental, as earth-blinded, earth-dimmed, earth-fed, earth-stained, earth-worn, etc.
ΚΠ
1596 J. Davies Orchestra ciii. sig. C4 He [sc. Love] first extracted from th' earth-mingled mind That heau'nly fire, or quintessence diuine.
1607 B. Jonson Volpone iii. vii. sig. Hv Earth-fed mindes, That neuer tasted the true heau'n of loue. View more context for this quotation
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V cli, in Poems (1878) IV. 138 Earth-rampeir'd Ears, expect the Drum to Call.
1708 C. Leslie Socinian Controv. Discuss'd vi. 45 They [sc. true Believers] are Stript and Divested of all their Earth Stain'd sinful Weeds.
1772 J. Spencer Hermas 65 Spurn hence these earth-worn cares.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. viii. 94/1 Thou the Earth-blinded summonest both Past and Future.
1866 E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. 177 The earth-worn face of the living.
1884 W. G. Horder in Christian World Pulpit 12 Nov. 310/3 Our earth~dimmed souls.
a1939 Z. Grey Black Mesa (1955) i. 13 Manning espied the moundlike hogans, earth-covered frames, that furnished homes for the nomad Indians.
1960 A. Christie Adventure of Christmas Pudding 233 Miss Greenshaw raised two earth-stained fingers to her lips.
2002 C. J. Kibert et al. Constr. Ecol. 283 There are already 2,000-3,000 earth-covered buildings in the USA.
C6. In other adverbial uses, with the sense ‘to or towards the earth’, ‘over or through the earth’, as earth-bowed, earth-burrower, earth-creeping, earth-plodder, earth-turned, etc.
ΚΠ
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. L3 So earth-creeping a mind, that it cannot lift it selfe vp, to looke to the sky of Poetry.
1618 R. Brathwait Good Wife sig. F Earth-turn'd, mole-ei'd, flesh-hook, that puls vs hence.
1793 G. Butt Poems II. 191 Cunning's earth-bent eye By gold's attraction turn'd from Truth awry.
1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 61 With every earthlent ray of every star Holy and special influences are.
a1864 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1879) I. 218 Weary earth-plodders.
1883 Longman's Mag. Dec. 162 The mole is an earth-burrower.
1922 F. S. Marvin Western Races & World i. 23 The earth-bowed serf of Europe, the murdered slave of Africa.
1987 F. Jackson & P. Moore Life in Universe (new ed.) iv. 89 It seems that the crust on the far side of the Moon is thicker than that on the Earth-turned side.
1993 A. J. M. Shamon Three Steps to Sanctity i. 15 We are by nature both earth-bent and me-centered.
C7. Parasynthetic, as earth-floored, earth-roofed, earth-walled, etc. Cf. earthen adj. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1809 A. M. Porter Don Sebastian II. 169 The girl..admitted Sebastian into a low, earth-floored room.
1838 J. R. Peabody World of Wonders (ed. 3) 56 Within an earth-walled enclosure..are six miniature tumuli.
1898 Missionary Herald (Boston) June 230/2 We are out of doors on the earth floor, under a low earth-roofed porch.
1930 N.Y. Times 2 Mar. (Special Features section) 4/1 Desert wastes, where aboriginal tribes built their earth-walled towns and tended their communal gardens.
1979 C. Foss Ephesus after Antiq. iii. x. 174 Most of the population lived below the hill of Ayashuluk in a village of about a hundred earth-roofed houses.
1984 Times 22 Aug. 12/4 The screech of brakes brings Israeli troops running from their earth-banked encampment beside the road.
1994 San Diego Union Tribune (Nexis) 18 Feb. b1 District officials have been trying to drum up support for their proposed $30.8 million earth-bottomed channel.
2001 Monumenta Nipponica 56 514 They rebuilt their entire kitchens, eliminating the traditional earth-floored spaces and replacing them with cement or linoleum flooring.
C8. See also earthboard n., earth-born adj., earth colour n., earth mother n., earthquake n., earthwork n., earthworm n., etc.
a. In the names of plants, animals, and fungi.
earth almond n. [compare German Erdmandel (1795 or earlier)] the edible tuber of the nut grass Cyperus esculentus; (also) the plant itself; cf. earthnut n. 2.
ΚΠ
1822 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening i. iii. 889 The Earth Almond, or Rush Nut, Cyperus esculentus.
1856 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1855: Agric. p. xiii, in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (34th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 12) VI The Earth Almond, or Chufa, (Cyperus esculentus), a small tuberous esculent, from the south of Spain, has naturalised itself to our climate and soil.
1943 T. S. Githens & C. E. Wood Food Resources of Afr. 73 The Tiger Nut or Earth Almond..is more important in North Africa in its role of a weed than in that of a food.
2006 M. Pearson & M. Westerman Spain from Backpack 45 I bought a refreshing horchata, the milky, partially frozen Valencian drink made from chufas (earth almonds).
† earthbind n. Obsolete rare a creeping plant (not identified).
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1597 W. Langham Garden of Health 205 Headache of rheume, put in the iuice of white Earthbinde into the nose.
† earth-bob n. Obsolete the subterranean larva of a beetle, perhaps a chafer, used as bait for fishing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > worms and grubs
angletwitcheOE
wormc1320
codwormc1450
redwormc1450
gentle1577
touchangle1581
bob1589
Jack1601
dug1608
codbait1620
caddis-worm1627
caddis1653
cockspur1653
lob-worm1653
marsh worm1653
gilt tail1656
cadew1668
cad1674
ash-grub1676
clap-bait1681
whitebait1681
earth-bob1696
jag-tail1736
buzz1760
treachet1787
angleworm1788
cow-turd-bob1798
palmer bob1814
slob1814
angledog1832
caddis-bait1833
sedge-worm1839
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
easworm1872
cow-dung bob1880
snake doctora1883
1696 J. Smith True Art Angling 16 Bobs, of these there are two sorts..one is called the Earth bob.
1787 T. Best Conc. Treat. Angling (ed. 2) 57 The best bait for them in the winter is, the earth bob, it is the spawn of the beetle.
1865 T. E. Fuller Boy's Holiday Bk. 143 The baits for dace are the red-worm, brandling, gilt-tail, cow-dung, and earth-bob.
earth chestnut n. (a) = earthnut n. 1; †(b) = earth-mouse n. (obsolete rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > root vegetable > [noun] > earth-nut
earthnutOE
earth chestnut1578
kipper-nut1597
pignuta1616
groundnut1653
gernut1691
fur-nut1804
yar-nut1828
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > root vegetables > earth-nut or plant
earthnutOE
earth chestnut1578
cipper-nut1653
hog-nut1771
swine-bread1888
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball v. xxiii. 579 The roote is lyke Bulbus, and in taste is much lyke to the Chestnut: in consyderation whereof, it may well be called..in English, Earth Chestnut.
1854 P. L. Simmonds Comm. Products Veg. Kingdom ii. 374 Lathyrus tuberosus, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its form, and the earth chestnut on account of its taste.
1866 Wilts. Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Mag. 9 242 The tuber..is sought after by children of the Wiltshire peasantry under the name of Earth-nut or Earth-chestnut, from its resemblance to the latter fruit in flavour.
1912 W. Tibbles Foods xxv. 691 Groundnut (Pignut, Earth Chestnut): The tuberous root of Bunium bulbocastanum.
1996 Chiltern Seeds Catal. 39 Earth Chestnut, Tuberous Caraway... Underground and out of sight it produces black starchy tubers, each an inch or so across.
earth dog n. [originally after Middle French chien de terre, in later use after French terrier (also chien terrier: see terrier n.1)] a dog, typically a terrier, used to turn out foxes and other burrowing animals from their earths.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > terrier > [noun]
terriera1425
earth dog1600
terrye1608
black and tan1844
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique vii. xxxvii. 699 The hunting of the foxe and brocke..is to bee perfourmed with earth dogs [Fr. chiens de terre].
1898 Newcastle Weekly Courant 9 July 5/6 The original Skyes were the perfection of terriers or earth dogs, and woe betide the foxes, the badgers, or the wild cats against whom they were pitted.
1945 C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 162 To-day he [sc. the Terrier] is..not so much the ratter and earth-dog of last century.
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 249/1 The Skye terrier has been known for four centuries, used as an earth dog to bolt fox and badger.
earth-drake n. a dragon that lives in the earth.In modern use chiefly in translations of or with allusion to Beowulf.
ΚΠ
OE Beowulf (2008) 2712 Sio wund..þe him se eorðdraca ær geworhte.
1853 W. Spalding. Hist. Eng. Lit. i. ii. 40 He [sc. Beowulf] sacrifices his own life in destroying a frightful earthdrake or dragon.
1973 M. Alexander tr. Beowulf 137 The wound that the earth-drake Had first succeeded in inflicting on him Began to burn and swell.
† earth-flea n. [in sense (a) after German Erdfloh (1719 in the passage translated in quot. 1731 for earth fly n.)] Obsolete (a) a flea beetle (family Chrysomelidae); also more fully earth-flea-beetle; (b) = earth fly n. (b) (rare).Sense (b) is apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1768 T. Nugent Trav. Germany II. 274 The plentiful watering of cole plants every day, is the only sure method against the earth-flea.
1814 W. Johnston tr. J. Beckmann Hist. Invent. (ed. 2) IV. 276 When sown late in the season, they were injured by the earth-flea.
1840 J. Loudon & M. Loudon tr. V. Köllar Treat. Insects II. 141 Shade, coolness, and rainy weather, are the surest protection of young plants from the attacks of the earth-flea-beetles.
1889 Cent. Dict. Earth-flea, a name of the chigoe, Sarcopsylla penetrans: so called from its living in the earth.
† earth fly n. [in sense (a) apparently originally after German Erdfloh earth-flea n.] Obsolete any of several small insects; esp.: (a) = earth-flea n. (a); (b) the chigoe or sand flea, Tunga penetrans.
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1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 176 There is a sort of Flies at the Cape which the Europeans call Earth-flies [Ger. der Erd-Floh].
1768 T. Nugent Trav. Germany II. xix. 274 Cole, and gillyflowers, and especially white-cabbage, and cauliflowers, for preventing the earth-flies, must, in a drought, by plentifully watered.
1824 H. E. Lloyd tr. J. B. von Spix & C. F. P. von Martius Trav. Brazil I. ii. ii. 258 The earth-flies (Pulex penetrans), which are concealed in numbers in the sand, penetrate under the nails of the hands and feet.
1865 J. G. Wood Homes without Hands xxvi. 509 The only insect which can be said to be parasitic on man, and at the same time form a habitation, is the celebrated chigoe Pulex penetrans, otherwise called the jigger, or earth fly.
earth hog n. [after South African Dutch aardvark aardvark n.] now rare the aardvark, Orycteropus afer; cf. earth-pig n.
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the world > animals > mammals > order Tubulidertata or aardvark > [noun]
earth hog1731
aardvark1785
earth-pig1785
ant bear1796
orycterope1827
groundhog1840
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope II. 118 The tongue of an Earth-Hog is long and pointed. When he is hungry, he looks for an Ant-Hill; and coming nigh the same, he lays him down,..stretching out his long tongue..the upper part of which being very clammy, the Ants are held thereon by the Legs.
1796 E. Helme tr. F. Le Vaillant's New Trav. III. 392 This ant-bear is called in the colonies erd-verken (earth hog).
1847 J. Barrow Reflect. 146 The aard-varké, or earth-hog (the Myrmecophaga Capensis), is also very common, undermines the ground, and seldom appears but in the night.
1965 Sci. News 17 July 44/3 Known as ant-bear, earth hog and Isambane, the aardvark holds special place in almost all dictionaries.
† earth ivy n. [probably after post-classical Latin hedera terrestris (4th cent.), a contemporary alternative name for hedera nigra; compare Old High German erd-ebuh (German Erdefeu)] Obsolete any of several creeping plants, esp. ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea, and common ivy, Hedera helix; cf. ground-ivy n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > labiate plant or plants > [noun] > ground-ivy
hovec1000
tunhoofc1000
earth ivyOE
hayhovec1325
alehoofa1400
mead-rattlea1400
ground-ivyc1400
yardhovec1430
cat's-foot1597
maidenhair1657
maidenhair berry1794
maidener1938
OE Brussels Gloss. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 299 Hedera nigra, eorðifig.
a1300 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 558 /l. 5 Hedera nigra, iere, oerþiui.
c1440 Liber de Diversis Med. 17 Tak erthe yven & stampe it & helle a littill jus in þe ere.
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 37 Take the lesse Shaving girss..and Earth yvy, of eche two handfull.
† earth-lard n. Obsolete rare the white subterranean larva of the cockchafer, Melolontha melolontha.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Scarabaeidae > genus Melolontha > larva of cockchafer
white grub1496
whitebait1681
ton1693
turk1712
rook worma1722
white worm1724
earth-lard1801
grass grub1854
1801 Trans. Soc. Arts 19 175 The Grubs of the Cockchafers... When disturbed they contract their length, and..appear like lumps of white fat. [Note] Hence the British name ‘Earth-Lard’.
earth-louse n. now rare (usually in plural) any of various soil-dwelling insects, as root aphids and springtails.In quot. 1601: a burrowing scarabaeid beetle. [After post-classical Latin pedunculus terrae, alteration of classical Latin pēdiculus terrae; compare Old Icelandic jarðlús earwig.]
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1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 379 There is a kinde of earth-Beetles called Tauri, i. Buls: which name they tooke of the little hornes that they carie..; some tearme them, Pedunculos terræ, earth-lice.
1807 in Periodical Accts. Missions Church United Brethren (?1808) 4 326 We must add the annual increase of all kinds of grubs, and other devouring insects, earth-lice, moths, caterpillars, grey and green worms.
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Earth-louse, 1. Any root-feeding aphidid... 2. Any one of many soil-inhabiting thysanurous insects.
1922 E. R. Eddison Worm Ouroboros xxviii. 364 The little dead earth-louse were of greater avail than thou, were it not nothing as thou art nothing.
earthmoss n. now historical and rare. a moss of the genus Phascum (family Pottiaceae).
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1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. ii. 263 You must prepare [for canaries]..Elks hair..and earth-moss.
1798 C. Abbot Flora Bedfordiensis xxiv. 229 Earth moss. Phascum... Veil very small. Lid none.
1864 M. Plues Rambles in Search of Flowerless Plants viii. 62 In the Earth-moss family the capsules have little or no stalks, the leaves are generally in eight rows, and the whole plant is wonderfully small.
1947 D. Hunter Papermaking (ed. 2) 327 There are eighteen specimens of paper which embrace sheets made from nettles, straw, earthmoss, cattails, and aloe leaves.
† earth-mouse n. [compare French souris de terre (1854 or earlier), German Erdmaus (1785 or earlier)] Obsolete rare the tuberous pea, Lathyrus tuberosus.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > root vegetables > heath-pea
mouse-peaa1400
pease earthnut1548
wood pea1633
heath-pea1706
carmele1760
earth-mouse1854
1854 P. L. Simmonds Comm. Products Veg. Kingdom ii. 374 Lathyrus tuberosus, called by the peasants the earth mouse, on account of its form, and the earth chestnut on account of its taste.
1859 All Year Round 3 Dec. 126 The earth-mouse (Lathyrus tuberosus), which the French peasant will not cultivate because, he says, it walks underground.
earth pea n. [compare slightly earlier earthnut pea n. at earthnut n. Compounds] now rare any of various chiefly leguminous plants producing edible seeds in underground pods; esp. (in early use) a pea, Lathyrus amphicarpus, originating in Syria.
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1754 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (rev. ed.) III. (Table of Plants) Earth-peas. See Lathyrus.
1832 J. L. Comstock Introd. Study Bot. 166 Genus Lathyrus. To this genus belong the Sweet Pea,..the Everlasting Pea, the Earth pea, Lord Anson's Pea, &c.
1932 E. B. Fred et al. Root Nodule Bacteria & Leguminous Plants viii. 132 Juga bean, earth pea, Bambarra ground nut, Madagascar pea nut.
1992 Hist. Afr. 19 27 Cowpeas, earth peas, pigeon peas, chick peas, peanuts, and tiger nuts were all described as beans by one observer or another.
earth-pig n. [after South African Dutch aardvark aardvark n.; compare earlier earth hog n.] the aardvark, Orycteropus afer.
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the world > animals > mammals > order Tubulidertata or aardvark > [noun]
earth hog1731
aardvark1785
earth-pig1785
ant bear1796
orycterope1827
groundhog1840
1785 G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope I. 270 The aard-varken, or earth-pig, which, probably, is a species of manis.
1878 Newcastle Courant 20 Sept. 6/7 Captain Lucas had opportunities of enjoying what sport there is in South Africa, and he incidentally mentions the ant bear or earth pig.
1994 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 21 529 Fungus-culturing termites..are eaten by the largest myrmecophage, the earth-pig, in southern Africa.
† earth-puff n. Obsolete rare a type of edible fungus, perhaps a puffball.
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the world > plants > particular plants > fungi > [noun] > puff-ball
wolf's-fista1300
puckfistc1300
puff1538
earth-puff1585
foist1593
fist1597
fuzz-ball1597
puff-fist1597
bunt1601
fuzz1601
bullfist1611
mully-puff1629
fist-ball1635
puffball1649
puck-ball1730
puffin1755
lycoperdon1756
frog cheese1766
puck1766
fuzzy-ballc1850
ball smut1925
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator Tuberes, Mushroms, tadstooles, earthturfes, earthpuffes.
1761 T. Arnold Bailey's Compl. Eng. Dict. (German ed.) II. 127/1 Erdapfel, Sow-Bread, Earth-Puff, Truffles.
† earth-shrew n. Obsolete a shrew (genus Sorex); cf. hardishrew n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > [noun] > order Insectivora > family Soricidae > genus Sorex (shrew)
shrewc725
mygalea1382
ranny1559
shrewmouse1572
hardishrew1601
muset1601
earth-shrew1607
sorex1607
spitemouse1668
hog mouse1743
wight1795
thraw-mouse1825
saddleback1948
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 534 (heading) The movse called the Shrew, or the erd-Shrew.
1693 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 851 The Shrew-mouse or Erd, i.e. Earth-shrew.
a1803 J. Walker Ess. Nat. Hist. & Rural Econ. (1812) xiii. 489 Brit. The Shrew. Angl. Shrew-mouse or Hardy Shrew. Scot. Erd-shrew.
earth smoke n. [after French fumeterre or its etymon post-classical Latin fumus terrrae fumitory n.; compare German Erdrauch (16th cent.)] common fumitory, Fumaria officinalis.
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1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Fumaria, fumitory or earth-smoke.
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. at Fumaria Fumus Terræ (with Botanists), Fumitory, Earth-smoke.
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 88 Fumitory,..earth-smoke, from the belief that it was produced without seed from vapours rising from the earth.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 57/1 Common fumitory,..Earth smoke, red-tipped-web, is a common weed of gardens... The delicate grey-green leaves do have a slightly smoky appearance.
† earth-spider n. Obsolete a wolf spider (family Lycosidae), spec. the European tarantula, Lycosa tarentula; (also) an American tarantula (family Theraphosidae).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > suborder Labidognatha or Dipneumones > member of family Lycosidae > lycosa tarantula
tarantula1561
earth-spider1679
Naples spider1840
vampire1843
Tarentine spider-
1679 W. Winstanley Country-man's Guide xxviii. 36 In case the horse..hath swallowed down any venemous beast, as a..Earth Spider, Snale, or Dirt-Grubber, (Buprestis) then you must make him run, until he sweats.
1726 L. Alberti's Archit. I. 6 A small Earth Spider, commonly call'd a Tarantula.
1803 Philos. Mag. 15 67 Mention is made also of a tarantula, which, according to every probability, is nothing else than the aranea clavipes, or a large American kind of earth spider.
1883 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Dec. 760/2 Though the exact circumstances under which this epidemic arose [in 15th cent. Italy] are involved in mystery, yet we may probably safely assume that they were in some way or other connected with a common earth-spider, the tarantula.
† earth-squirrel n. Obsolete a ground squirrel or gopher (genus Spermophilus).
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1839 J. Paget Hungary & Transylvania II. i. 7 In sandy districts the earless marmot is a constant source of amusement. [Note] I think this is the earth squirrel of some writers,—the spermophile of F. Cuvier.
1857 W. Chandless Visit Salt Lake II. x. 311 Little heaps of earth thrown out from the burrowings of the earth-squirrel, who generally sat on the top of the heap, sunning himself.
earth tongue n. [after scientific Latin Geoglossum, genus name (1799 or earlier)] the tongue-shaped fruiting body of any of various ascomycete fungi of the family Geoglossaceae, esp. those of the genus Geoglossum.
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1826 R. K. Greville Sc. Cryptog. Flora IV. 211 (heading) Green Earth-tongue.
1863 Pop. Sci. Rev. 2 331 Of all the wicked-looking Fungi, none have so weird an appearance as the black Geoglossum. It is well termed Earth-tongue, for it springs in a tongue shape from the ground, black and glutinous.
1939 D. C. Peattie Flowering Earth xviii. 231 On the ground little earth-tongue fungi stuck out their tongues.
1991 D. Alora All That Rain Promises & More xi. 214 Velvety black earth tongue (Tricoglossum hirsutum)... This dainty mushroom is often overlooked because of its dark color. Several similar but less velvety black earth tongues belong to a related genus, Geoglossum.
earth wolf n. [after South African Dutch aardwolf aardwolf n.] the aardwolf, Proteles cristatus (family Hyaenidae).Now chiefly in glosses of aardwolf.
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1796 tr. F. Le Vaillant New Trav. Afr. II. 323 Beside these hyænas and the jackals..I remarked the cry of some other animal. My people distinguished it by the name of the earth-wolf. I do not know it.
1833 Penny Cycl. I. 4/2 The genus proteles contains but a single species, the Aard-wolf or earth-wolf.., so called by the European colonists in the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay in South Africa.
1898 Daily News 19 Jan. 5/4 A curious pair has come to live in the Zoo—specimens of the African Aard Wolf, which means Earth Wolf.
1988 J. Branford in E. G. Stanley & T. F. Hoad Words for Robert Burchfield's 65th Birthday 75 The name [sc. ‘wolf’] has not survived in English on its own, but it is still found in compounds like strandwolf (beach wolf), streepwolf (striped wolf), and aardwolf (earth wolf, the maned jackal).
b.
earth art n. a style of art characterized by the use of soil, rock and other materials derived from nature, typically in large, site-specific sculptures or installations in the natural landscape; cf. earthwork n. 4.The earth art movement originally flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly in the United States.
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1968 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Tribune 11 Nov. b2/5 Much of the exhibit consists of photographs, because most earth art is outdoors.
1984 D. Lodge Small World i. 38 Earth art—you know, those designs miles long that you can only appreciate from an aeroplane.
2004 Observer 25 Apr. (Mag.) 25/1 We've just walked to the middle of the 1,500ft of serpentine coils that make up Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, perhaps the world's best-known work of earth art.
earth artist n. (a) an artist from this world, rather than a supernatural realm; (b) an artist in the genre of earth art.Sense (a) apparently represents an isolated use.
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1918 L. K. Jones God's World I. 134 There is a type of mediumship that concerns itself only with the production of paintings... The colors are different from any that can be found in the studio of any earth-artist.
1969 Hays (Kansas) Daily News 3 Apr. 5/2 Sand, salt, and grass are materials used by other ‘Earth’ artists.
2003 G. Silk in D. A. Pisano Airplane in Amer. Culture (2006) 283 Forsaking the confines of the gallery and museum in favor of working directly in the land, earth artists commonly produce large-scale art, often in remote places.
earth auger n. = auger n.1 2.
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1790 B. Poellnitz Let. 20 Mar. in G. Washington Papers (1996) Presidential Ser. V. 265 My implements I thinck [sic] are equal to the undertaking... 1 mill for fattening cattle. 1 Earth augre. 1 augre for conducting water works. [etc.].
1861 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 5 Apr. 360/1 An earth auger for boring post holes.
1981 E. K. Blankenbaker Mod. Plumbing xv. 183/1 Bored wells are made with an earth auger. It drills a hole which is larger in diameter than the casing.
earth bag n. [after French sac à terre (see quot. 1702)] a bag filled with earth, used esp. in the construction of fortifications or dwellings; cf. sandbag n.
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1702 Mil. Dict. at Canvas Bags The French call them Sacs-a-Terre, that is, Earth-Bags.
1804 T. Sunderland Exercise Light Infantry vi. 73 An earth bag contains about a cubic foot of earth, and used to raise a parapet in haste, or to repair one.
1936 San Antonio (Texas) Express 1 Aug. 2/3 Earth bags were piled up around historic St. Paul's Indian Mission.
2005 A. Kennedy in J. Ostrow House that Jill Built ii. 26 Adobe plaster..covers the earth bags that create the walls around and between the structural wood skeleton.
earth-based adj. based on or (poetic) resting on the earth; spec. located on the earth in contrast to being in space or on another planet; derived from or obtained using an instrument so placed.
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1839 Mrs. Hale Ladies' Wreath 401 On the distant heights Soft clouds, earth-based, repose.
a1868 C. Harpur Poet. Wks. (1984) 841 Yon rude hills Uppiled against the south like rugged banks Of earth-based cloud.
1952 U.S. Patent 2,623,714 2 The support also carries an azimuth reference to supply the third earth-based quantity, heading.
1959 Sci. News Let. 19 Sept. 181/1 Earth-based telescopes..have long been the principal tool for the exploration of the moon.
1987 R. A. Thompson & L. S. Thompson Egoshell ii. C-ii. 127 If..a person could travel at 80 percent of the speed of light to the ‘dog star’, Sirius,..the round trip by earth-based time standards would take fifteen years.
2005 Nature 10 Mar. 163/2 Methane clouds in Titan's troposphere have been observed in Earth-based images.
earth bath n. [after post-classical Latin balneum terrae (a1765 in the passage translated in quot. 1765) and its model Spanish vaño de tierra ( F. Solano de Luque Origen Morboso (1718) v. 174); compare earlier air bath n.] now historical a kind of medical treatment in which the patient is buried up to the shoulders in the ground.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment with mud, sand, etc. > [noun]
pication1684
arenation1717
saburration1763
earth bath1765
mudbath1782
sand-bath1869
moor bath1878
fangotherapy1903
pelotherapy1933
1765 tr. G. van Swieten Comm. Aphorisms Boerhaave XII. 200 I have formerly heard..that through the whole kingdom of Granada, they have a method of curing a phthisis by an earth bath [L. per balneum terrae].
a1832 J. Mackintosh Mem. in R. J. Mackintosh Life (1835) I. i. 28 He endeavoured to make himself conspicuous, by..the earth bath, which consisted in burying himself in the ground up to the neck.
1907 Westm. Mag. 8 May 4/2 Graham advocated earth-baths.
2004 Northern Echo (Nexis) 25 Aug. 8 The physician told Dickinson to take an ‘earth bath’ in his native soil for four hours.
earth battery n. †(a) Military a battery (battery n. 5a) formed of earth (obsolete); (b) a battery formed by burying two electrodes of different materials in the earth some distance apart.Sense (a) apparently represents an isolated use.
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1841 Chinese Repository Sept. 526 It was a strong and thick wall..with only small low gun-ports, and a defense between one gun-port and another of a thick earth battery of equal height with the wall.
1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 620/1 In some cases, where a constant current of low intensity is required, this earth battery would become very useful.
1858 Ladies' Repository Apr. 371/2 The only winding-up required by this extraordinary clock is a feed of zinc to the earth-battery when it shall have become oxydized by long use.
1982 U.S. Patent 4,572,582 1 This invention pertains to earth batteries..and more particularly, to a battery in which one electrode is a veined material located in the earth.
2007 U.S. Patent 7,177,819 B2 Abstr. An earth battery may also be included, at least partially contained within the real estate sign and supplying power to the real estate sign.
earth-bred adj. [originally after classical Latin terrigena, noun (see terrigenous adj.)] bred from or on the earth; earth-born.
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1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) vii. f. 82v These earthbred [L. terrigenae] brothers by and by did one another wound.
1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. M3v These aboriginies, earth-bred wormes,..will stand vpon termes of gentilitie.
1729 R. Savage Wanderer i. 26 Rude, earth-bred Storms o'er meaner Valleys blow.
1831 Liberal Preacher 1 60 Those fine sentiments and wide views which they find so useless, amidst the earth-bred spirits that surround them.
1910 B. B. Gilchrist Life Mary Lyon ii. 30 Her earth-bred sense taught her when to respect it [sc. convention] and when to set it aside.
2006 Space Daily (Nexis) 22 June A direct comparison of the space-bred flies with the Earth-bred control flies.
earth-built adj. (of a structure) constructed from earth.
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1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) vi. sig. K3 Let flying Parthians still admire alone The brittle earth-built walls of Babylon.
1795 S. Ireland Picturesque Views Avon 4 Clay, or earth-built huts.
1884 Blackwood's Mag. July 133/2 The strong earth-built forts wherein the Persian garrisons for generations past had lived on guard.
1930 Times 18 Feb. 50/3 To quarry out and build up a semi-circular amphitheatre half a mile in diameter in place of the distant and earth-built amphitheatres of the famed Delhi Durbars.
2003 A. Steen et al. Built by Hand 53/1 In many climates, earth-built walls hold up to weather and erosion, provided they are built on good foundations.
earth car n. now rare a railway car used for transporting and dumping waste produced during rail works.
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1847 Engineer's Rep. Proposed Railway Port Hope to Peterboro 16/2 Earth Cars, 10.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 769/2 Earth-car, a car for transporting gravel and stone in railway operations.
1902 Opinion Attorney-general Title New Panama Canal Company 249 Whatever methods may be adopted, the dredges of all kinds, the excavators, the loading derricks, the rails, locomotives, and earth cars are amply sufficient.
† earth-chine n. Obsolete a fissure in the earth.
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the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun] > chasm or cleft
chinec1050
earth-chinea1300
kinc1330
chimneyc1374
haga1400
riftc1400
refta1425
dungeonc1475
rupturec1487
gaping1539
rent1603
chasm1621
abrupt1624
hiulcitya1681
clove1779
score1790
strid1862
fent1878
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) l. 270 Tis der..Goð o felde to a furȝ, and falleð ðarinne, In eried lond er in erð-chine, for to bilirten fuȝeles.
Earth Charter n. a document which (although not legally enforceable) details action and principles for environmental protection and sustainable development agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, June 1992 (also called Rio Declaration; cf. Agenda 21 n. at agenda n. Compounds 3); (also) any similar document containing recommendations for environmental protection.
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1990 UN Chron. Dec. 63 Maurice Strong..proposed that the world meeting agree on an Earth Charter and a ‘prioritized agenda’ to be known as Agenda 21 to implement it.
1994 Marine Policy 18 103/2 The Earth Council has the following elements:..Earth Charter. A statement of values for wide general acceptance will be articulated and promoted, building on the range of existing charters and declarations.
2001 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 2 Sept. i. 24/4 Multinational efforts like Earth Charter, which push nations and corporations to embrace a sense of ethical responsibility to the earth.
earth closet n. a lavatory in which dry earth is used to cover excrement; cf. water closet n.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > privy or latrine > [noun] > specific outside
piss-house1665
dunnekin1790
earth closet1863
garden house1888
dunny1924
long drop1963
1863 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 24 115 Mr. Young..has for two years had an earth-closet in a small room within ten feet of that used by his lodgers..as a dining room.
1917 H. W. Conn Bacteria, Yeasts, & Molds in Home (rev. ed.) viii. 117 They are immensely numerous in the vicinity of earth closets or privies, and the soil near sink drains and manure heaps is filled with them.
1964 L. Woolf Beginning Again I. 60 An earth closet discretely, but ineffectively, hidden in a grove of cherry laurels.
2004 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 16/6 I built my own earth closet—essentially a commode with a bucket inside, and a supply of dried earth from the garden.
earth coal n. now historical ordinary coal as opposed to charcoal.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun]
coal1253
sea-coal1253
pit-coal1483
cannel1541
earth coala1552
horse coal1552
Newcastle coal1552
stone-coal1585
cannel coal1587
parrot1594
burn-coal1597
lithanthrax1612
stony coal1617
Welsh coala1618
land-coala1661
foot coal1665
peacock coal1686
rough coal1686
white coal1686
heathen-coalc1697
coal-stone1708
round1708
stone-coal1708
bench-coal1712
slipper coal1712
black coal1713
culm1742
rock coal1750
board coal1761
Bovey coal1761
house coal1784
mineral coal1785
splint1789
splint coal1789
jet coal1794
anthracite1797
wood-coal1799
blind-coal1802
black diamond1803
silk-coal1803
glance-coal1805
lignite1808
Welsh stone-coal1808
soft1811
spout coals1821
spouter1821
Wallsend1821
brown coal1833
paper coal1833
steam-coal1850
peat-coal1851
cherry-coal1853
household1854
sinter coal1854
oil coal1856
raker1857
Kilkenny coal1861
Pottery coal1867
silkstone1867
block coal1871
admiralty1877
rattlejack1877
bunker1883
fusain1883
smitham1883
bunker coal1885
triping1886
trolley coal1890
kibble1891
sea-borne1892
jet1893
steam1897
sack coal1898
Welsh1898
navigation coal1900
Coalite1906
clarain1919
durain1919
vitrain1919
single1921
kolm1930
hards1956
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > hydrocarbon minerals > [noun] > coal > as distinguished from charcoal
sea-coal1253
earth coala1552
stone-coal1585
lithanthrax1612
stony coal1617
a1552 J. Leland Itinerary (1711) V. 85 Though betwixt Cawoode and Rotheram be good Plenti of Wood, yet the People burne much Yerth Cole.
1612 S. Sturtevant Metallica To Rdr. sig. A2 To bring Earth-coale to that equallity of heat that Wood or Char-coale hath.
1756 R. Rolt New Dict. Trade Coal, a black, sulphurous, inflammable matter,..being sometimes called pit-coal, Scotch-coal, Welch-coal, cannel-coal, fossil-coal, earth-coal, [etc.].
1807 R. Southey Lett. from Eng. I. ii. 12 They burn earth-coal every where.
1957 F. Jonas tr. N. M. Karamzin Lett. Russ. Traveler iv. 261 In both the towns and villages, all the houses are brick, with the roofs, and unpainted. Everywhere you see the smoke of earth coal.
2001 R. Hannesson Investing for Sustainability i. 3 The story of how iron came to be made with earth coal instead of charcoal involved many failed experiments and entrepreneurs who went broke.
earth connection n. an electrical connection to earth (sense 6a).
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1849 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 139 61 Each wire has an earth connection at its two extremities, and when a current is made to pass along the wire by means of the galvanic battery, it returns by the conducting power of the earth.
1938 Times 6 Oct. 9/5 (advt.) Here is the ideal set for immediate use in the home or office. It can be taken instantly to any room or floor and switched on at once, requiring no aerial or earth connections.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) xi. 508/5 You cannot test a double-insulated appliance, as it has no earth connection in the plug.
earth-conscious adj. (also with capital initial in the first element) aware of and sensitive towards environmental issues; cf. eco-conscious adj. at eco- comb. form 3b.
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1970 Prospector (Univ. of Texas at El Paso) 27 Feb. 2 Earth conscious protestors tried to save trees from being destroyed in the name of a bigger football stadium.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 17 Aug. 57/1 All inside a shop that runs on ‘earth-conscious’ power sources.
earth current n. (a) an electric current flowing in the earth, which can affect telegraph wires so as to interfere with signal transmission; (b) a current flowing to earth through an earthed conductor or an earth connection.
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1858 Mechanics' Mag. 16 Oct. 364/1 If this earth current were at all constant in its quantities or direction, it would be quite easy to compensate for it.
1925 H. C. Booth tr. F. Auerbach Mod. Magnetics (U.K. ed.) vii. 147 The deflection..can..also be caused by the discharge current in static electricity, or by Hertzian waves or by earth currents.
1961 M. G. Say Electr. Engineer's Ref. Bk. (ed. 10) i. 116 The most usual fault is a breakdown between a line and earth, producing a condition of unbalance involving unequal phase currents and voltages and a more or less important ‘residual’ earth current.
2008 G. Ziegler Numerical Distance Protection (ed. 3) v. 269 In meshed networks, additional care must be taken because the earth-current is split between several lines.
earth dam n. a dam in the form of an embankment of compacted natural materials such as soil and gravel, often with a core or lining of impermeable material such as clay puddle or concrete; cf. earth-fill dam n. at earth fill n. Compounds.
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1802 Explan. Plan Improvem. Harbour Bristol (City Corporation) 3 An Earth Dam across the Avon at Canon's Marsh, to be formed from the Earth excavated from Canon's Marsh.
1920 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. xv. 398 By the final overflow of the lake-water, and the accompanying destruction of the earth dam, disastrous floods may sweep the valley below.
2007 M. Parker Panama Fever xxiv. 441 The principle of earth dams is based on the fact that most clays are impervious.
earth day n. (a) a day on earth; (chiefly Astronomy and Science Fiction) a day as measured on earth (cf. day n. 2a); (b) (with capital initials) a day dedicated to celebrating the earth's natural environment and promoting environmentalism.Earth Day is often observed on 22 April, the date of the first such event in 1970.
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1856 Arthur's Home Mag. Aug. 87/1 The day's wearisome work came at last to its close, as..all the earth-days must.
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 744 A Deity working in creation, like a day-laborer, by earth-days of twenty-four hours..is a belittling conception.
1954 C. Oliver in W. F. Nolan Edge of Forever (1971) 143 The ten Earth-days of the Venusian night had been busy and full.
1990 P. Moore Mission to Planets 11 The planets move round the sun at various distances, in periods ranging from 88 Earth-days for Mercury up to 248 years for Pluto.
2008 B. A. Lewis Teen Guide to Global Action 85/2 Celebrate Earth Day... Regardless of when you mark the occasion, be sure to do something to help the planet on its special day.
earth-eating n. and adj. (a) n. the practice of eating earth, geophagy; (b) adj. that eats earth.
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1809 J. Montgomery in J. Montgomery et al. Poems Abolition Slave Trade 50 It is remarkable that ‘earth-eating’, as it is called, is an infectious, and even a social malady.
1852 T. Ross tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. Amer. II. xxiv. 499 These examples of earth-eating in the torrid zone appear very strange.
1869 tr. F. A. Pouchet Universe (1871) 22 There are a tolerably large number of earth-eating tribes in North America.
2001 Africa News (Nexis) 18 June Haemoglobin and ferritin levels were significantly lower among earth eating women.
2002 W. M. Geserland & R. A. Kearns Culture/Place/Health 123 John Hunter..traced the origins and diffusion of geophagy or earth-eating in Africa and the USA.
earth flax n. now disused asbestos.
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the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > amphibole (double chain) > [noun] > asbestos
quick-line1601
asbestos1608
earth flax1649
thrum-stone1681
fossil linen1797
cork-fossil1806
fossil cork1859
mountain-cork1859
rock-cork1859
byssus1864
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > phyllosilicate > [noun] > serpentine > fibrous
asbestos1608
earth flax1649
thrum-stone1681
picrolite1816
chrysotile1850
byssus1864
1649 C. Hoole Easie Entrance Lat. Tongue ii. 162/1 Earth-flax.
1685 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 15 1056 It being calld in general Linum fossile; in English, Earth-flax and in particular Linum Indicum by Cœlius Rhodiginus.
1728 J. Woodward Fossils All Kinds 14 English talc, of which the coarser sort is call'd Plaister, or Parget, the finer, Spaad, Earth-Flax, or Salamander's Hair.
1914 J. D. Sawyer How to make Country Place vi. 236 Asbestos (earth flax) and mineral wool..were used wherever there was danger of a charred timber.
earthflow n. motion of a saturated mass of fine-grained sediment down a slope, esp. when made fluid by excessive rainfall; an instance of this.Technically earthflow is usually regarded as being faster than creep (creep n. 6a) and slower than mudflow.
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1938 Geogr. Rev. 28 350 Most of the denudation was due to mass movement—slow, downhill soil-creep, earthflow, and slumping.
1979 B. J. Knapp Elem. Geogr. Hydrol. iv. 61/2 Solifluction..is equivalent to a slow earthflow in temperate regions.
2008 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 17 Apr. c1 A 17-hectare swath of land adjacent to the town slid into the river in an ‘earthflow’ when the marine clay suddenly liquefied.
† earth-foam n. Mineralogy Obsolete a soft variety of the mineral calcite; = aphrite n.
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1827 J. L. Comstock Elements Mineral. 92 (heading) Aphrite. Earth foam.
1872 H. Watts Dict. Chem. I. 349 A soft friable variety of it [sc. aphrite] called earth-foam.
earth-fold n. now rare a fold in geological strata. [Compare German Erdfalte (1888 or earlier; also 1857 or earlier describing a topographical feature more generally).]
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1885 Amer. Naturalist 19 264 Are we prepared to admit that the globe actually contracted to that extent during the formation of the Appalachian earth-folds?
1918 Geogr. Jrnl. 52 2 These iron tracks [sc. railways] may surmount difficult and lofty ranges; or may burrow their way through the earth-folds.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) 323 (Gloss.) Anticline, an earth-fold in which the strata are uplifted in the form of an arch.
earth fork n. a digging fork.
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1833 Examiner 20 Jan. 1/1 I..contented myself with separating the central portion [of the potato], as I should have done had it been wounded in digging up with an earth fork, and then ate the remainder.
1968 Ada (Okla.) Weekly News 7 Mar. 4/7 Thinking of fishing makes one dream of rocking in a boat instead of slaving with an earth fork and hoe.
earth-friendly adj. (also with capital initial in the first element) = environmentally friendly adj. at environmentally adv. Compounds.
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the world > action or operation > safety > [adjective] > safe or not dangerous > safe or harmless > to the environment
environmentalist1968
environmentally sound1969
environmentally friendly1971
friendly1971
low-impact1972
sustainable1976
environmental1977
environmental friendly1977
sustainability1980
eco-sensitive1982
environment-friendly1982
nature-friendly1984
ozone-friendly1988
earth-friendly1989
eco-friendly1989
1989 Marketing 27 Apr. 26/2 On the back side of the pack, this declaration of greenness would be qualified by information explaining exactly in what way the product was earth friendly.
1991 Garbage Jan.–Feb. 80/3 Ask yourself a few questions as you peruse merchandise stamped with Earth-friendly slogans.
2001 T. H. Culley Immortal Class (2002) xii. 318 We should..let these immediate improvements have their long-term, earth-friendly consequences.
earth girl n. a girl who dwells on earth, as opposed to in heaven, the sea, etc.; (now) spec.(chiefly Science Fiction) a (young) female inhabitant or native of the planet earth; cf. earthwoman n. 3.
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1858 Herald of Light June 57 The Heaven-girls are fond and true; the earth-girls are too often inconstant and cold at heart.
1903 Reader Mar. 468/2 The next [tale relates] how a small sea-maiden and a little earth-girl changed places.
1911 H. K. Vielé Girl from Mercury in Wit & Humor of Amer. IV. 793 The fancy took me to suspend intuition just to see how Earth girls feel.
2008 Sunday Star (Nexis) 6 July 27 The Man of Steel may have a rod of iron but his powers mean he could never make love to a normal earth girl.
† earth-glacier n. Obsolete rare a slow-moving mass of saturated rock debris.
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1894 J. Geikie Great Ice Age (ed. 3) xxxv. 600 Vast quantities of rock-rubbish would thus gradually collect at the base of the Rock [of Gibraltar], and when the snow melted in summer, the rubbish, becoming saturated, would move forward en masse, like the so-called earth-glaciers of the Rocky Mountains.
earth god n. a god associated with or symbolic of the earth. [Compare German Erdgott, †Erdengott (mid 17th cent. or earlier; compare also Old High German ertcot, with reference to the classical god Tellurus).]
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1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God vii. xxviii. 289 How can those heauen-gods now be earth-gods, or these earth-gods haue roomes aboue or reference to heauen?
1871 A. C. Swinburne Songs before Sunrise 148 The earth-god Freedom.
1904 Folk-Lore Sept. 312 As an embodiment of the earth-god the king was responsible for the fruits of the earth.
1996 J. Brown Hong Kong & Macau: Rough Guide (ed. 3) 93 Protectors of the local community, Earth Gods have been worshipped for centuries on the mainland.
earth goddess n. a goddess associated with or symbolic of the earth; cf. earth mother n. 1. [In quot. 1835 after German Erdgöttin (1833 in the passage translated; < Erdgott (see earth god n.) + -in -en suffix2).]
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the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > the earth as
mother earth1568
earth mother1832
earth goddess1835
1835 tr. C. O. Müller Diss. Eumenides of Æschylus 162 This district, which abounded in very ancient temples of the Earth-goddesses [Ger. Erdgöttinnen].
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart v. 31 It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking ii. 131 One of the American Indian targets is the Church of Gaia, named after a Greek earth goddess, which blends Indian rituals with ecology.
earth history n. [compare German Erdgeschichte (second half of the 18th cent.)] the geological history of the earth.
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the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [noun] > branches or types of history
ancient history1566
church story1581
archaeology1607
church history1609
local history1615
mythistory1731
human story1753
intellectual history1755
oral history1827
Assyriology1828
world history1833
hierologya1848
meta-history1854
Hibernologya1869
prehistory1871
proto-history1876
prehistorics1879
earth history1880
Sumerology1897
historiometry1909
black history1920
herstory1932
ethnohistory1938
meta-history1946
Annales1952
Hittitology1952
revisionism1965
longue durée1968
Warburgianism1977
1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life 83 The opposite belief, which is now rapidly gaining ground among the students of earth-history.
1958 R. C. Moore Introd. Hist. Geol. (ed. 2) iv. 59 The first major division of earth history determinable from rocks exposed at the surface is the Cryptozoic Eon.
2006 Science 24 Mar. 1747/2 These changes..led us to reexamine the climate associated with the last major sea-level rise above modern levels that occurred in Earth history.
earth hut n. (a) a dwelling or shelter which is fully or partially underground (cf. earth house n. 1a); now chiefly historical; (b) a hut made of earth (cf. earth house n. 1b).
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1814 G. H. von Langsdorff Voy. & Trav. ii. i. 26 The earth huts we make are very warm.
1863 Chambers's Encycl. V. 787/2 Khiva..consists almost entirely of earth-huts, not excepting the residence of the khan, the only brick buildings being three mosques.
1970 D. A. Avdusin in Varangian Probl. 104 The Russian towns usually contain the remains of semi-subterranean timber-lined earth huts.
1999 Guardian (Nexis) 16 June 15 Most of Qunu's residents still live in earth huts with thatched or iron roofs.
earth inductor n. Physics a device for investigating the earth's magnetic field, consisting essentially of a coil of wire that can be rapidly turned about an axis in its own plane so as to induce an electric current in it that depends on the magnetic field; frequently attributive.
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1871 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 91 350 The third method demands a knowledge of the coil surface of an earth inductor, and the absolute intensity of the earth's magnetism.
1953 C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis ii. vi. 182 Plane ready; engine ready; earth-inductor compass set on course.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) IV. 338/2 The earth inductor has almost completely supplanted the dip circle throughout the world for precise measurement of magnetic inclination.
2004 D. Radcliffe & A. Mahood Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 vi. 125 The plane's rotating coil earth inductor compass should keep you on course.
earth lead n. an electrical lead which is connected to earth (sense 6a).
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1899 U.S. Patent 623,033 1/2 From the top part a double earth-lead branches off, being..soldered with rod, whereby a well conducting connection is attained.
2001 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 17 Jan. 5 A wiring diagram embossed on the bottom of the socket could mislead people into connecting the live lead to earth and the earth lead to the live terminal.
earth leakage n. a flow of electric current from a live conductor to earth, esp. as a result of imperfect insulation; frequently attributive, designating devices designed to respond to or prevent this, esp. ones that respond to voltage rather than current; cf. residual current device n. at residual adj. Compounds.
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1887 Jrnl. Soc. Telegraph-engineers & Electricians 16 185 The Board of Trade regulations..made special provision that these mains should be completely detached from the houses at the time the electric light was in use in those houses, and in this manner the dangers from earth leakages would be minimised.
1935 Jrnl. Sci. Instruments 12 51 A simple earth-leakage trip relay for incorporation in domestic apparatus.
1985 C. S. Ward Anaesthetic Equipm. (ed. 2) xix. 313/1 The second method of improving safety is to install a current-operated earth-leakage circuit breaker.
2004 P. Hymers New Home Builder xi. 214 RCDs are residual circuit breakers that immediately trip out the supply if an earth leakage is detected.
earth life n. (a) terrestrial as opposed to spiritual existence; (b) life on the planet earth. [After German Erdenleben terrestrial life, especially as opposed to spiritual life (second half of the 18th cent. or earlier); compare Old High German erdlīb, in the same sense, and also Old Saxon erðlīf (in erðlībigiskapu (plural) fates of earthly life).]
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the world > life > source or principle of life > [noun] > present life
worldeOE
this lifeOE
world-lifeOE
sithea1225
journey?c1225
pilgrimagec1384
weeping-dalec1400
valec1446
peregrinationc1475
scene1662
shades1816
earth life1842
macro-world1968
1842 W. Howitt Student-Life Germany v. 93 This is unquestionably the highest misery in this earth-life, if the affairs of God, through guilt, come to a dead pause in their lively developement.
1906 Daily Chron. 28 May 3/4 One brief day—as long as seven years of this earth-life.
1958 New Statesman 15 Mar. 353/2 The spy from Outer Space..will be happy to discover..an authentic smell, that is, of mid-century earth-life in general.
2007 Irish Times (Nexis) 28 June 25 He is the player who will curse the planetary interaction that overlapped his earth life with that of Roger Federer.
earth-line n. the line where the earth and sky appear to meet, the horizon; cf. skyline n. 1.
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1850 S. Judd Richard Edney xxii. 250 My teacher..used to instruct us that there was an earth-line of the sky, as well as a sky-line of the earth.
1907 R. Kipling Twenty Poems (1918) 2 They are concerned with matters hidden—under the earth-line their altars are.
1952 N. Nicholson in C. Dyment New Poems 63 A day with sky so wide, So stripped of cloud..that you can see The earth-line as a curve.
earth loop n. an unwanted loop of current in a circuit resulting from a potential difference between two earthed connections, typically causing interference which (in an audio system) creates a humming sound.
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1932 Brit. Patent 371,861 4/2 Figures 4 and 5 show circuits without earth loops, in which two oppositely directed rectifiers Zt and Zs are provided in the subscriber's station.
1968 Lancet 15 June 1262/1 The possibility of earth loops was noted in relation to other equipment to which the patient might be attached.
2003 A. Nisbett Sound Studio (ed. 7) ix. 177 Hum may..be caused by making connections by separate paths to a common earth, which creates an earth loop that picks up signals from power lines.
† earth-marl n. Obsolete marl containing a large proportion of clay.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > marl > other marls
pigeon marl1601
paper-marl1707
toad-marl1764
rock marl1772
earth-marl1803
wichert1912
1803 J. Ainslie in A. Hunter et al. Georgical Ess. I. xvii. 226 A very considerable number of earth-marls are of a stony hardness.
1834 Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. xiii. 311 The origin of earth-marl is a subject of curious inquiry.
earth-measure n. rare measurement, or a measure, of the shape (or other parameter) of the earth.
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1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xii. sig. 388v It was nedefull for Mechanicall earthmeasures, not to be ignorant of the measure and contents of the circle.
1946 H. McKay World of Numbers i. 15 There is another earth measure that has intrigued men from of old, the tilt of the earth's axis.
1999 C. Hoffman Seven Story Tower v. 93 The Mesopotamians were the first to make maps with north oriented up and south down, creating a correspondence between Earth-measure (geography) to Skymeasure (astronomy).
earth-measuring n. [after ancient Greek γεωμετρία geometry n.] now historical measurement of the shape (or other parameter) of the earth.Frequently as a literal gloss for geometry.
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1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xii. sig. 388v Geometria, that is, Earthmeasuring.
1856 Mechanics' Mag. 25 Oct. 393/2 Earth-measuring appears to have been a favourite occupation of the French.
1921 J. Dewey Democracy & Educ. (new ed.) xv. 236 Mathematics is now a highly abstract science; geometry, however, means literally earth-measuring.
2006 G. Danson Weighing the World 205 In the year Topping set off on his survey of the Indian coast, far away, in Italy, Boscovish's successors were also engaged in earth measuring.
earth–moon adj. Astronomy (attributive) designating the system in which the earth and moon are the only gravitationally significant bodies; of or relating to this system.
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1882 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 124 336 The earth–moon system may have been developed from the time when the earth–moon formed one planet revolving on its axis in a few hours.
1930 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us (ed. 2) iv. 225 Tidal friction has in all probability been mainly responsible for the present configuration of the earth–moon system.
2002 P. C. Plait Bad Astron. vii. 68 The center of the Earth is orbiting the Earth–Moon barycenter.
earth-oil n. petroleum, natural mineral oil. [After Malay minyak tanah petroleum, bitumen ( < minyak oil + tanah ground). Compare the similarly-formed post-classical Latin petroleum petroleum n. Compare also Dutch aardolie (1701 as aerdoly with reference to Indonesia; after either Latin or Malay), German Erdöl (1741; after Latin).]
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > mineral oil > [noun]
petroleum1526
oil of petre1528
petrol1540
oil of saltpetre1685
earth-oil1732
white oil1763
mineral oil1771
coal oil1784
petroleum oil1799
crude oil1865
petroleum spirit1868
petroleum coke1881
crude1904
black gold1910
marker crude1974
benchmark crude1975
1732 Coll. Voy. & Trav. II. 191/1 A certain spring of sulphurous liquor..not unlike a Petroleum: The Indians call this liquor Minjah Tunnah, e.i. earth-oil.
1755 Baker in Dalrymple Or. Rep. I. 172 In this place [sc. ‘Raynan-Gome’ in Burma] there are about 200 Families..employed in getting Earth-oil out of Pitts.
1861 All Year round 30 Mar. 105 A large earthen cup filled with earth-oil for the night watches.
1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ii. 21 Inside, the Club was a teak-walled place smelling of earth-oil.
2000 A. Ghosh Glass Palace (2001) x. 122 To the people of the area [around Mount Popa, Burma] this ooze was known as earth-oil: it was a dark, shimmering green.
earth orbit n. †(a) the orbit of the earth around the sun (obsolete rare); (b) an orbit around the earth.
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1872 Manch. Weekly Times 20 Jan. Suppl. 23/2 The proportion [of the meteor-cloud] which the earth orbit crosses at present, is..a tenuous tail behind the more densely crowded central group.
1914 H. C. Vedder Reformation in Germany i. i. 16 How often has the world..hailed some new light as a morning star that was to usher in the longed-for day;..until, at last, convinced that it is only some wanderer moving in a narrow earth orbit, men have turned away from it in the bitterness of despair.
1967 New Scientist 9 Feb. 325/1 Russian scientists..have spoken of the importance of manned space-stations in Earth-orbit.
2002 Science 15 Nov. 1321/1 The spacecraft itself operated perfectly after launch, but something—presumably its rocket motor—blew it apart as it rocketed out of Earth orbit.
earth-orbiting adj. that is in orbit around the earth.
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1954 Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram 9 Dec. b11/1 If there are any earth orbiting meteors—the bodies which would make ideal space ports for our use—this group should discover them.
1986 Sci. Amer. Apr. 21/3 Its location would enable it to track only some 10 percent of earth-orbiting satellites.
2008 Washington Post (Nexis) 13 July b3 Let's begin the process of turning the ISS from an Earth-orbiting caterpillar into an interplanetary butterfly.
earth pigment n. = earth colour n. 1.
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the world > matter > colour > colouring > colouring matter > [noun] > types of
lac1558
purpurin1558
colourish1598
earth1598
watercolour1598
earth colour1658
encaustic1662
lake1684
virgin tint1706
mosaic gold1746
bronze1753
gold bronze1769
cake colour1784
musive gold1796
sap-colour1816
repaint1827
moist colour1842
bronze powder1846
wax-colour1854
wax pigment1854
bitumen1855
chrome garnet1876
zinc-dust1877
zinc-powder1881
terra nera1882
earth pigment1900
1900 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Republican 4 Nov. 9/6 The cave is rich in colors, for it is in the region of mineral paints where the Indians gathered many of their earth pigments.
1923 L. C. Martin Colour vi. 73 Generally speaking, the ‘earth pigments’ are the most stable and satisfactory.
1990 Green Mag. Apr. 78/1 (caption) Auro is the primary manufacturer of organic paints..made from natural and raw materials (such as..earth pigments).
earth pillar n. a column of soft rock or earth formed by erosion or other natural agency, typically having a cap of harder rock; cf. hoodoo n. 5, spire n.1 7a.
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1795 D. Walker Gen. View Agric. Herts. 11 The earth-pillars have been found to descend 50 feet and upwards.
1885 P. M. Duncan Lyell's Student's Elem. Geol. (ed. 4) vi. 82 Earth-pillars with stones on their tops are relics of the country worn away all around them.
1995 Dominion (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 3 Jan. 2 Large earth pillars that rise from the valley floor like the pipes of a giant cathedral organ.
earth plane n. the realm of the living, as opposed to that of the spirits.
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1855 E. W. Capron Mod. Spiritualism vi. 114 Multitudes of spirits..had now been granted the privilege of returning to the earth plane.
1917 San Francisco Sunday Chron. 8 July (Mag. section) 6/4 The authenticity of communication between the spirit world and the earth plane.
2002 N. Drury Dict. Esoteric 89/1 The astral bodies of good people are believed to decompose quickly as their spirits move onto a new evolutionary path, but the elementaries of the less evolved tend to cling to the earth plane for a longer time.
† earth-planet n. [ < earth n.1 + ancient Greek πλάνητ-, πλάνης wanderer (see planet n.)] Obsolete a vagabond, a wanderer.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > travel from place to place > [noun] > without fixed aim or wandering > wanderer > wretched or exiled
earth-planet1591
1591 J. Florio Second Frutes 141 Children, whores, and fugitiues..A man must not beleeue these runagate earth~planets.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Villotier, a vagabond, land-loper, earth-planet, continuall gadder from towne to towne.
earth plate n. a metal plate buried in the earth or submerged in the sea so as to serve as an earth connection (as part of an earth return or as a safety feature).
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1847 Brett & Little Compendium Improvements Electr. Telegraphs 22 An earth plate..which carries the current back by the conducting powers of the earth.
1870 Nature 5 May 12/2 All owners of important isolated stations should use earth-plates at sea, and at sea only.
1913 Times Engin. Suppl. 18 June 23/4 The writer has made experiments with a small transmitting set, using no antenna, but merely wires terminating in small earth plates.
1998 M. J. Heathcote & D. P. Franklin J & P Transformer Bk. (ed. 12) vi. 418 Earth plates are usually made of galvanized cast iron..or of copper... In small installations, driven mild steel pipes..are sometimes employed.
earth-rind n. [compare German Erdrinde, scientific term for the earth's crust (mid 18th cent.)] chiefly literary (now rare) the earth's crust; also figurative.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [noun] > crust
crust1555
sole1610
shella1704
earth-rind1827
subshell1906
1827 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (1998) IV. 491 In the ante-diluvian Ages..the Earth-rind on which they [sc. men] lived, might have been like a Pewter warming-plate.
1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets iv. 8 On what a bottomless volcano..separated from us by a thin earth-rind, Society..in the present epoch, rests!
1871 G. Hartwig Subterranean World i. 5 The history of the earth-rind opens to us a vista into time.
1941 G. Schuster & G. Wint India & Democracy i. xi. 210 The problem in India is to remake its political system without letting loose one of these fiery outbreaks. But the Earth-rind is dangerously thin.
earth sack n. [probably after French sac à terre (see quot. 1702 for earth bag n.)] = earth bag n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > shelter or screen > [noun] > sandbag
sandbag1590
earth sack1708
woolsack1715
1708 London Gaz. No. 4471/2 We began..to fill the Fosse..with Fascines and Earth-Sacks.
1871 W. P. Fetridge Rise & Fall Paris Commune 1871 viii. 248 General Bergeret..was ordered by the Commune to place 20,000 earth-sacks at the disposal of Colonel Henry.
1915 Indianapolis Star 21 May 2/5 There was a third line of these defenses along the bank of the canal, abundantly protected by earth sacks and obstacles.
1998 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 3 May r28 The south wall and interior walls will be done with ‘earth sacks’—building blocks made by filling sandbags with earth and a little water.
earth satellite n. a satellite in orbit around the earth, esp. an artificial one.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > spacecraft > [noun] > satellite
space station1930
artificial satellite1936
satellite1936
satellite station1945
earth satellite1949
space platform1951
space satellite1952
satelloid1955
sputnik1957
orbiter1958
1949 Rocket Jet Flying Spring 6 The ‘earth satellite vehicle program’..is the most imagination-firing news we've heard in quite a while.
1956 Collier's Year-bk. 48/2 Plans to launch an earth satellite were announced in the middle of 1955.
1969 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 79 263 The Cyrillids [sc. a meteor shower] had been due to the decay of temporary natural Earth satellites.
2000 H. W. Thistle & J. W. Barry in C. D. Whiteman Mountain Meteorol. xiv. 278 GPS, is a..system that uses signals transmitted from a constellation of polar orbiting earth satellites to determine position on the surface of the earth.
earth sculpture n. the physical processes by which the form of the earth's surface is altered.
ΚΠ
1874 A. Geikie (title) Earth sculpture and the Huttonian school of geology.
1874 Jrnl. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 6 207 The leveling down of these mountains, has been going on for infinite ages... This is what may be called ‘earth sculpture’.
1954 Sci. News 33 67 The processes of earth sculpture operating in periglacial conditions..produce deposits and landforms of a special type.
2006 B. A. Kennedy Inventing Earth 132 He [sc. C. Lyell] never fully accepted the role of rivers or land ice in Earth sculpture and was distinctly lukewarm to Darwin's evolutionary theory.
earth-sheltered adj. protected or shielded by earth; (Architecture) constructed to take advantage of the insulating properties of earth, as by being covered with a layer of earth, or recessed into the ground, a hillside, etc.
ΚΠ
1862 N.-Y. Tribune 26 Apr. in F. Moore Rebellion Rec. IV. ii. 492/2 Although one is a stone castle and the other an earth-sheltered work, a comparison between the nature and results of the two sieges would not be unfair.
1977 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 14 May (Classified section) p. N/6 South facing hillsides for solar, earth-sheltered homes.
1995 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 26 Mar. 37 The houses will be earth-sheltered on three sides for insulation.
2002 D. D. Chiras Solar House i. 41 Below the frost line, the ground stays a fairly constant 50°F... An earth-sheltered house takes advantage of this phenomenon and remains at a fairly constant temperature year-round.
earth sheltering n. Architecture the practice or principle of using earth to provide insulation; cf. earth-sheltered adj.
ΚΠ
1979 Chicago Tribune 25 Mar. v. 15/6 Earth sheltering must also overcome psychological barriers to living ‘underground’.
1994 BBC Vegetarian Good Food Aug. 35/1 (advt.) The renovation and construction of houses which incorporate energy saving features or other advanced green building technologies such as earth-sheltering.
2001 S. Roaf et al. Ecohouse (2002) vi. 132 In earth-sheltered structures all or part of the building is sunk into the ground... An excellent introduction to the principals [sic] of earth sheltering is Sod It, by Peter Carpenter.
earth shock n. [compare earlier earthquake n.] (originally) an earthquake; (in later use) an earth tremor; a seismic wave.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > convulsion > [noun] > earthquake
earthdinOE
earthquakinga1325
earthgrinec1325
earthquakea1350
earthquavea1382
earth movingc1384
earth shakinga1387
terremote1390
tremor1635
airquake1746
earth shock1816
temblor1876
quake1881
seism1883
macroseism1903
tremblor1913
1816 Ld. Byron Siege Corinth xxxiii. 53 All the living things that heard That deadly earth shock disappeared.
1887 Times 24 June 13/3 Several places in the direction of Tashkend have suffered all the horrors of the earth shock.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 8/2 Watch the papers today for news of an earth shock.
1979 Science 27 Apr. 374/2 In Summerville..loud explosive noises and light earth shocks were experienced several days before the earthquake.
1999 Jrnl. Loss Prevention in Process Industries 12 456/1 The sound of the explosion and the earth shocks reached as far as Bayreuth, at a distance of 145 miles.
earth shrinkage n. Geology (now rare) a hypothesized contraction of the earth over time, formerly attributed to a cooling of the earth's interior and used to explain the formation of mountain ranges.
ΚΠ
1898 Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 Feb. 5/6 Slight additions to the mass of the earth are constantly made by the arrest of meteoric bodies passing through the atmosphere. Their influence is opposed to and rends to neutralize that of any earth shrinkage that may be going on.
1926 R. S. Lull Org. Evol. 687 Back of these climatic changes lies, as one of the great fundamental causes, earth shrinkage, with a consequent warping of the crust which produces mountain ranges.
1942 Science 16 Jan. 72/1 Dr. Gamow ascribes mountain-making to earth shrinkage, although he correctly computes as extremely small the amount of such shrinkage.
earth sign n. Astrology any of the three zodiac signs associated with the element earth, (cf. sense 15), Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn; (also) a person born under one of these signs.
ΚΠ
1892 Lucifer 15 June 286 Taurus an ‘earth’ sign, is polarized by Scorpio, a ‘water’ sign.
1901 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 19 May 13/4 Virgo is an earth sign: Aquarius, like Gemini, is an air sign.
2002 S. Perera Do Right Thing 47 She was thorough. Well she would be, as an earth sign.
earthslide n. the sliding down of a mass of rock and soil from a mountain or cliff side; the steep face exposed by this, or the material so fallen; = landslip n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > slope > [noun] > of rocks or detritus
shot-heuch1574
slide1664
scree1813
shot-brae1822
earthslide1829
talus1830
slip1838
rockslide1845
earthslip1859
landslip1872
spout1883
shingle-slip1900
slump1905
stone stripe1934
shingle slide1944
1829 W. Scott Anne of Geierstein I. ii. 41 You have come along the edge of the precipice which the earth-slide hath laid bare.
1832 C. J. Latrobe Pedestrian ix. 337 I stood upon the brink of one of those tremendous earth-slides which are frequently met with in those portions of the Alps.
1960 Daily Chron. (Centralia, Washington) 12 Mar. 10/4 An earthslide approximately 30 feet long and 6 to 12 feet deep covered the..road.
2005 H.-L. Paus in T. Glade et al. Landslide Hazard & Risk 275 The initiation of earthslides by earthquakes has been underestimated in the past.
earthslip n. = earthslide n.
ΚΠ
1859 Photographic News 5 Aug. 256/2 To begin first with large faces of rocks, gulleys, crevices, earth slips,..it will require some preparatory study.
1883 G. Vigfusson & F. Y. Powell Corpus Poeticvm Boreale 524 The king was buried under an earth-slip.
1997 Trail May 54/3 Tramp over gorse and heather to rejoin the coast path near Great Red—a massive earthslip.
2003 Kent & Sussex Courier (Nexis) 17 Jan. 6 Although there was an earthslip there was no immediate danger to trains on either line.
earth soul n. [with sense (a) compare earlier world-soul n. at world n. Compounds 8] (a) the soul of the earth, the animating principle of the universe (cf. anima mundi n.); (b) the soul of a human or earth-dweller.
ΚΠ
1846 Amer. Whig Rev. Feb. 130/2 This lower, or Earth Soul is likewise creative.
1871 A. C. Swinburne Songs before Sunrise 149 The earth-soul Freedom, that only Lives, and that only is God.
1912 W. James Ess. Radical Empiricism iv. 136 Speculations like Fechner's, of an Earth-soul, of wider spans of consciousness enveloping narrower ones throughout the cosmos, are..philosophically quite in order.
1948 C. Day Lewis Poems 1943–7 64 You might well surmise They are earth-souls.
2000 W. Wachhorst Dream of Spaceflight i. 15 The wild-minded apriorist [sc. Johannes Kepler] whose speculations had included an Earth soul and radiations from the planets that shaped human lives.
earth spirit n. a spirit, fairy, or other supernatural being associated with the earth or (more generally) with nature.
ΚΠ
1809 Supernatural Mag. Aug. 69 Wood spirits, field spirits, mountain spirits, fire spirits, air spirits, earth spirits, [etc.].
1912 E. Thurston Omens & Superstitions S. India vii. 214 Human sacrifice is considered efficacious in appeasing the earth spirit, and in warding off devils during the construction of a new railway.
2003 Express & Echo (Exeter) (Nexis) 21 Aug. 15 The musical showcase opened yesterday with a pagan religious ceremony meant to welcome the Earth spirits to the site.
earth spring n. in electrical equipment: a spring with an earth connection.
ΚΠ
1868 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 35 66 One of these springs (the earth-spring) is connected with the earth.
2006 U.S. Patent 7,151,503 B2 3 An earth spring is mounted on the cable substrate.
earth station n. a radio station located on the ground, esp. one used for relaying signals received from communications satellites.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > radio station > specific
earth station1935
1935 Science 5 July 5/1 From beginning to end of the flight the balloon was in radio communication with the ground. The balloon's radio station was called ‘Luna’ and the earth station ‘Venus’.
1977 J. McPhee Coming into Country ii. 164 Alaska is attempting to solve the problem with RCA earth stations that are trained on satellites.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 27 Dec. 9 The satellite side of Goonhilly, the largest earth station in the world, is facing almost certain closure.
earth table n. Architecture = plinth course n. at plinth n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1822 E. J. Willson Gloss. Gothic Archit. 14/1 in A. Pugin Specimens Gothic Archit. (1823) II. We meet with several particular tables in old accounts. As the earth-table, or ground-table, for the basement, or lowest course of stone above the foundation.
1833 J. Dallaway Disc. Archit. Eng. 175 Earth table—base tablets—‘a course without’, the first horizontal moulding above the ground.
1860 Archaeol. Jrnl. June 130 The base moulding of the tower is simply chamfered, and has a very weak effect by the side of the bold earth-table of the earlier building.
1996 W. Bucher Dict. Building Preserv. 269/2 Ledgment table, the lowest horizontal molding on the exterior of a building, except for the earth table.
earth-threatening adj. that puts the existence of the earth in danger.
ΚΠ
1594 C. Marlowe & T. Nashe Dido i. sig. A2 This earth threatning aire, That shaken thrise, makes Natures buildings quake.
1980 Los Angeles Times 7 Dec. vi. 5/2 In last year's ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, unknown aliens transformed our long-lost Voyager probe into an Earth-threatening monster.
1996 Nature 25 Apr. p. vii/1 A mechanism by which this asteroid and others might be perturbed into Earth-threatening orbits.
earth tilting n. a gradual flexing of the earth's surface, thought to precede a large earthquake.
ΚΠ
1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 626/2 The ground is subject to other movements. Some..which may be called ‘earth-tiltings’, show themselves by a slow bending and unbending of the surface.
1959 Jrnl. Atmospheric & Terrestr. Physics 16 399 The relation between earth tilting and subsequent shocks in the Tolmezzo records.
earth time n. (a) the time during which the earth has been in existence; (b) time as measured on earth.
ΚΠ
1857 P. St. G. Cooke Scenes & Adventures in Army xiv. 365 The starry hosts which sang together before the face of God, ere Earth-time began.
1951 A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars ii. 15 We keep normal Earth-time—Greenwich Meridian—aboard the [space-]ship.
2001 J. Robbins Food Revol. iii. xiv. 259 In what by any measure of Earth time is a mere microsecond, we have raised the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 25 percent.
2006 Geelong (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 12 Jan. 24 It takes Saturn a little more than 29 years, in Earth time, to orbit the Sun.
earth tremor n. [compare earlier earthquake n.] a shaking or movement of the ground; a mild earthquake, esp. one of several preceding a major earthquake.
ΚΠ
1819 in R. Orton Ess. Epidemic Cholera of India (1831) 264 This change in the seasons was accompanied on the 22d, 23d, and 24th..with midnight earth-tremors.
1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 629/1 This kind of action has..been turned to account as a means of detecting very minute earth tremors by Rossi.
1951 Sci. Monthly Apr. 247/1 The 1949 eruption of Ngauruhoe began at about 2:30 on the morning of February 9, following..a premonitory earth tremor.
2001 Hist. Scotl. Winter 23/1 Minor earth tremors were common leading to rock fall and landslips.
earth waller n. a person who builds earth or clay walls.
ΚΠ
1477 in L. T. Smith York Plays (1885) p. xxi Garthyners, erthe wallers, pavers, dykers.
2004 Oxf. Times 19 Nov. 25/1 Rural craft workers, including..earth wallers.
earth wave n. now rare a seismic wave.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > convulsion > [noun] > earthquake > seismic wave
wave1761
earth wave1848
body wave1900
S wave1908
shear wave1936
shake wave1944
1848 Preston Guardian & Lancs. Advertiser 1 Jan. 7/1 That earth wave which lifted up the land under Lisbon, destroyed nearly the whole of the town, and communicated itself in every direction.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 188 [In earthquakes] near the sea the water waves may be far more destructive than the earth waves.
1907 19th Cent. & After Aug. 220 The unfelt earth-waves through and around the globe.
2007 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 Jan. b6/4 The earth wave passed under the hotel in front of us, and the building instantly fell down.
earth wax n. a natural form of paraffin wax; = ozokerite n. [After German Erdwachs (Glocker 1833 in the article cited at ozokerite n.); compare earlier fossil wax n. at fossil n. and adj. Compounds 2, mineral wax n. at mineral adj. Compounds 1.]
ΚΠ
1881 U.S. Patent 236,198 1/1 There are several of these resins known under various local names. They are, for instance..the ‘ozokerit’ or ‘earth-wax,’ from Moldavia.
1958 W. T. O'Dea Social Hist. Lighting 216 Ozokerit, or ‘earth~wax’, found in the region of the Roumanian oil wells, later proved..superior, at a price, to paraffin wax candles.
2008 Org. Geochem. 39 372/2 As a result of their heterogeneity, earth wax, fossil resins,..and shungite are not classified as minerals.
earth-wheeling n. rare the activity of transporting earth in a wheelbarrow.
ΚΠ
1885 Sir R. Rawlinson in Pall Mall Gaz. 17 Jan. 1/2 Stockport, where men had been set to test work at earth-wheeling.
earth white n. a white pigment obtained from an earth (sense 16).
ΚΠ
1908 F. Maire Mod. Pigments iv. 40 Earth whites are so named to distinguish that class of pigments which owe their origin to mother earth in contradistinction to those which are derived from a metallic origin.
1997 M. B. Cohn tr. Old Master Prints & Drawings iii. 63/2 Kaolin, earth white, pumice (aluminum silicate).
earth worship n. †(a) (apparently) earthiness, preoccupation with the land (obsolete rare); (b) any of various belief systems in which the earth (or a god or goddess representing the earth) is revered; (also more generally) nature worship, paganism (cf. paganism n. 1c).
ΚΠ
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. x, in Fraser's Mag. Aug. 188/2 Drudgical Earth-worship.
1841 Amer. Eclectic Jan. 79 Of earthworship, and its introduction from the North into the rest of the world.
1920 L. Spence Encycl. Occultism 354/2 Earth worship, or rather the propitiation of earth spirits, was a prominent feature of Scottish paganism.
2005 R. Johnston Staver Compan. Beowulf 151 Human sacrifice was almost certainly a feature of earth worship.
earth-year n. Astronomy and Science Fiction a year as measured on the earth (= year n. 1a); contrasted with year n. 2d.
ΚΠ
1870 J. D. Steele Answers to Pract. Questions & Probl. 253 A Jovian year equals 11.86 earth-years.
1953 E. F. Russell Somewhere a Voice (1965) 18 It would take them most of an Earth-year to reach the fortieth parallel.
2006 S. M. Stirling Sky People xiv. 296 A girl of about ten Earth-years ran by, white-blond hair trailing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

earthn.2

Brit. /əːθ/, U.S. /ərθ/
Forms:

α. early Old English ierþ, Old English eyrð (rare), Old English yrd (rare), Old English–early Middle English ierð, Old English–early Middle English (in compounds) yrþ, Old English–early Middle English yrð, Middle English gereðe (in copy of Old English charter), Middle English yrh (in copy of Old English charter).

β. Old English earð.

γ. Middle English erþe, Middle English erth, Middle English erthe, 1500s– earth, 1500s earthe.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymons: ear v.1, -th suffix1.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian erd ploughing < the Germanic base of ear v.1 + -th suffix1. Compare erd n.The α. forms show the West Saxon realization of i-mutation of ea caused by the suffix; the β. forms apparently show failure of mutation; and the γ. forms in e probably show the reflex of the usual non-West Saxon i-mutation of ea . Confusion with the semantically similar earth n.1 is evident from the Old English period onwards (e.g. in some Old English derivatives and compounds with eorð as first element, which cannot historically be forms of earth n.1: see forms at earthling n.1, earthland n.); in Middle English the two words showed formal merger in most dialects as erthe or erth . (The γ. forms in ea are clearly after earth n.1; and the Old English β. form earð might alternatively be explained in this way.) In some cases it is difficult to tell whether a compound has this word or earth n.1 as its first element; compare earthboard n., earth-ridge n. Also apparently attested early in place names (in sense ‘ploughed land’ or ‘land for ploughing’), as Cornerda , Suffolk (1086; now Great Cornard), Ercheham , Sussex (a1135; now Eartham), Hengerth , Lancashire (1190; now lost), etc., although some of these examples may show earth n.1
English regional (southern) in later use. Now rare.
1. The action of ploughing; an instance of this. In early use also: †the produce of ploughed land, a crop; a measure of ploughed land (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun]
eartheOE
earingOE
ploughing1374
fallowing1426
labouragec1475
ardagh1483
eara1500
fallowa1500
arder1581
waining1585
stitch1600
caruage1610
furrow1610
till1647
aration1663
bouting1733
breast-ploughing1754
prairie-breaking1845
sodbusting1965
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xxix. 366 Ða..he in ðæm ilcan lande seow, þa georn ðær sona upp genihtsumlic yrð & wæstm.
lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) xxi. §4. 452 Feola syndon folcgerihtu: on sumre ðeode gebyreð..bendform for ripe, gytfeorm for yrðe.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. xviii. 916 Þe more gardyn was of twenty dayes erþe [1495 de Worde erthe] or eryenge.
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 35v Iugerum, a dayes erþe or a dayes worke.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. l. 68 (MED) Nowe cicera the blake is sowe in seson On erthes tweyne or oon.
a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 51 A acre off lande shall haue iij erthis or þan it be sowen.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Earth or earynge of Lande in some place taken for tyllage of lande, as the first earth..first plowynge styrringe.
1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 35v Such land as ye breake vp, for barlie to sowe, two earthes at the least, er ye sowe it bestowe.
1627 H. Scudder Christians Daily Walke i. x. 186 The husbandman will not alwaies be plowing..of his ground, but onely giueth it so many earths..as the ground hath neede, and as it can beare them.
1667 N. Fairfax Let. 5 Dec. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 12 1st. they plow it back again. 2ly. overthwart it. 3ly. harrow it plain. 4ly. size it into small riggs, 5ly. give it a stirring earth..then they plow it for seed.
1770 A. Young Course Exper. Agric. I. i. i. 62 Was fallowed the succeeding summer extremely well, receiving in all by the 12th of september 9 clean earths and 3 harrowings.
1787 Lett. by Farmer xii. 82 A fourth method..is, to give two or three earths to the land intended for this crop, or as many as are necessary to reduce it to a fine tilth.
1807 C. Vancouver in A. Young Gen. View Agric. Essex I. vii. 203 One or two clean deep ploughings is all that can..be required... One or both of these earths, under certain circumstances, had better be dispensed with.
1853 W. D. Cooper Gloss. Provincialisms Sussex (ed. 2) 43 Earth..It is still sometimes used substantively for a ploughed field or stubble lands.
1877 Ipswich Jrnl. 31 Mar. 9/3 After one, two, or three earths, as the circumstances and the season will admit, sow with either common turnips, or rape, or mustard.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) We never give wheat but one earth.
1892 East Anglian Daily Times in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1900) II. 228/2 We give our fields sometimes another earth.
†2. A ridge of turned-up soil running along the edge of a furrow. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun] > soil thrown up by plough
earth1681
plough-soil1854
1681 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (ed. 3) iv. 39 The Plough turning the Sward or upper Earth of another Furrow into the former Trench.
1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Feb. ii. 13 The Seed..is covered by turning down the Earth of the next Furrow, and so on till all the Field is sowed.
1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. ii. xiii. 247 If the earths of the furrows are set on their edge, the harrows turn them back.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 10 Ley-grounds cannot be laid too flat, or seed earths too much on an edge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

earthv.

Brit. /əːθ/, U.S. /ərθ/
Forms:

α. late Middle English erþed (past participle, northern), 1800s– eard (English regional (Yorkshire)); Scottish pre-1700 eird, pre-1700 eyrd, pre-1700 1700s– eard, pre-1700 1800s– erd.

β. 1500s– earth; also Scottish pre-1700 erth.

γ. English regional (chiefly northern) 1800s– yath, 1800s– yeath (Wiltshire), 1900s– yerth, 1900s– yeth (Lincolnshire).

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: earth n.1
Etymology: < earth n.1 Compare Middle Dutch erden to fill up with earth, to strengthen with earth, to bury (a corpse) (Dutch aarden to connect with a place, feel at home, to connect with the earth as a conductor), Middle Low German ērden to bury (a corpse), Middle High German erden to cover with earth (German erden, now only in electrical use), Old Icelandic jarða to bury, Old Swedish iordha to bury (Swedish jorda to bury, to connect with the earth as a conductor).With the α. and γ. forms see the respective discussions at earth n.1 With sense 5a compare earlier ground v. 10c.
1.
a. transitive. Originally Scottish. To bury (a corpse); also with up. In later use poetic or British regional.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > bury or entomb [verb (transitive)]
bedelveOE
begraveOE
burya1000
beburyc1000
bifel-ec1000
layc1000
to fall, lull, lay (bring obs.) asleepOE
tombc1275
gravec1300
inter1303
rekec1330
to lap in leadc1340
to lay to rest, abed, to bed1340
lie1387
to louk in clay (lead, etc.)?a1400
to lay lowa1425
earthc1450
sepulture1490
to put awaya1500
tyrea1500
mould1530
to graith in the grave1535
ingrave1535
intumulate1535
sepult1544
intumil?c1550
yird1562
shrinea1566
infera1575
entomb1576
sepelite1577
shroud1577
funeral1578
to load with earth1578
delve1587
to lay up1591
sepulchrize1595
pit-hole1607
infuneral1610
mool1610
inhumate1612
inurna1616
inhume1616
pit1621
tumulate1623
sepulchrea1626
turf1628
underlay1639
urna1657
to lay to sleep, asleep1701
envaulta1745
plant1785
ensepulchre1820
sheugh1839
to put under1879
to lay away1885
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 588 (MED) Lat him as ayre, quen I am erþed, enherit my landis.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiii. 666 And the laiff..In-to gret pittes erdit [1489 Adv. erdyt] war.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) ix. 1233 Robert our secund kynge..Was erdit in Scoyne, qwhar he lyis.
1553 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Eneados v. f. lxxxxvii The reliquis, and bones in fere Of my diuyne fader, we erdit heir.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. R.iiiiv Though earthed be his corps, yet florish shall his fame.
1591 R. Greene Maiden's Dreame in Wks. (1881–3) XIV. 316 His liuelesse bodie..Let that be earthed..in gorgeous wise.
1626 Duke of Buckingham Speech House of Lords in J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. (1659) 377 If my Posterity should not inherit the same fidelity, I should..be glad to see them earthed before me.
1743 R. Blair Grave 11 Why this ado in Earthing up a Carcase?
1799 J. Grahame Wallace iii. iv. 56 It well deserves..that th' accursed corpse be forthwith earth'd Beneath the public way, and with a stake Transfixed.
1808 Poet. Register 73 We'll earth her tomorrow, 'Tis the only wise method to bury one's sorrow.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby at Yeth'd Bodies in numbers were earthed without any receptacle.
1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox ii. 129 Over the slope that the Wan Brook drains, Past Battle Tump where they earthed the Danes.
1928 T. Hardy Winter Words 1 And for earthing a corpse or two, And for several other such odd jobs round here.
1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 90/2 Owd Tom war earthed at alivin.
†b. transitive. To plunge or hide (something) in the earth; to bury. Also intransitive: to bury oneself in the earth. Frequently figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, conceal [verb (transitive)] > underground
begraveOE
gravec1369
terrec1440
whelvec1440
earth1591
hole1608
1591 E. Spenser Ruines of Rome in Complaints sig. R2v Though time doth Commonwealths deuowre, Yet no time should so low embase their hight, That her head earth'd in her foundations deep, Should not her name and endles honour keep.
1648 Bp. J. Hall Select Thoughts 83 Let a man strictly examine his own affections, he shall finde them so deeply earthed.
1652 E. Benlowes Theophila xi. xliii. 198 Seeds thrive When earth't.
1745 E. Young Consolation 49 The Miser earths his Treasure.
1792 D. Lloyd Voy. Life vii. 157 He makes his onset on our puny race, And earths us deep in destiny's domain.
1839 P. J. Bailey Festus 45 Could I, like Heaven's bolt, earthing quench myself, This moment would I, [etc.].
1852 Hull Packet & E. Riding Times 23 Jan. 7/5 A pile, 25 feet in length, was, on Saturday week, earthed in eight minutes.
1877 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 10) xxviii. 472 Bids, openly, all his treasures be earthed with him.
2.
a. transitive. Hunting. To drive (a fox or badger) to its earth. Frequently figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > hunt [verb (transitive)] > run to earth
earth1575
dern1608
1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 239 We earth and digge a Badgerd.
1625 T. Adams Three Serm. ii. 42 The deuill is alwayes busie; and it is no small labour to earth that Fox.
1684 tr. A. O. Exquemelin Bucaniers Amer. i. x. 91 The Captain..went to Earth the Fox of a Governour.
1719 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth II. 270 The vixen's just now Earth'd.
1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fourth 8 The circling Hunt, of noisy Men..Pursuing and pursued, each other's Prey..Till Death, that mighty Hunter, earths them all.
1827 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 21 272 The consciousness of having now fairly..earthed the objects of this arduous search.
1862 ‘H. Glyn’ Cotton Lord II. xv. 159 Hurra! they had earthed the fox at last.
1935 Times 8 Mar. 5/4 They had earthed their fox by the Honeycombe stream under Great Kneeset.
b. transitive. In passive. Of an animal, esp. a fox: to be concealed in an earth, hole, or burrow. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1590 T. Cokayne Treat. Hunting D iv b Where the Foxe is earthed, blowe for the Terriers after this manner: One long and two short.
1619 Bp. J. King Serm. 40 Beasts..earthed in their thickets and bogges.
a1635 R. Corbet Iter Boreale in Certain Elegant Poems (1647) 5 The cunning men, like moles, Dwelt not in howses, but were earth't in holes.
1704 S. Carter Treat. conc. Trespasses xiv. 174 One may justify the entring into another Man's Land in pursuit of a Badger... But if a Badger be earthed he may not dig for him.
1773 W. Kenrick New Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) To hide in earth; as, the fox is earthed.
1830 J. Galt Southennan I. xlv. 155 His sagacity had soon apprized him that they had lost the scent, and that the fox was earthed.
1845 J. Mills Old Hall I. xi. 314 We shall be sure to find a badger's run there; and if not earthed, we'll soon have him.
1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox ii. 77 There was our fox bred lustily Three years before, and there he berthed Under the beech-roots snugly earthed.
†c. transitive (reflexive). To hide oneself underground; to go to earth. Frequently figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > conceal oneself [verb (reflexive)]
hidec897
wryOE
shroudc1402
imbosk1562
shrine1570
thick1574
mew1581
burrow1596
dern1604
earth1609
veil1614
ensconcea1616
abscond1626
perdue1694
secrete1764
to stow away1795
1609 Bp. W. Barlow Answer Catholike English-man 335 This wily Creature, fearing lest hee should bee taken by the..sent, hath earth'd himselfe backe againe into the 92. page.
1656 Disc. Auxiliary Beauty 137 He then retreats to this [stronghold] of Scandal, and earths himself in this burrough.
1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth IV. 56 He Earths himself in Cellars deep.
1736 R. Hodshon Honest Man's Compan. 59 For they are, Badger-like, once break the Soil, and they'll dig and earth themselves over-head.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 224/2 The fox earthed himself at the foot.
1842 S. Lover Handy Andy iii. 36 He earthed himself under his mother's bed in the parent cabin.
d. intransitive. Of a fox or badger: to conceal oneself in an earth; to go to earth. Also figurative. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > take or seek refuge [verb (intransitive)] > specific
wood1538
earth1611
tree1699
1611 L. Barry Ram-Alley iv. i. sig. F4v Who would haue thought The Foxe had earth'd so neere me?
1634 T. Heywood & R. Brome Late Lancashire Witches i. sig. B Perhaps some Foxe had earth'd there.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Spanish Curat ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. E3 v/1 They wil not die here, They will not Earth.
1713 T. Tickell in Guardian 4 Aug. 2/2 Hence Foxes earth'd, and Wolves abhorr'd the Day.
1731 S. Wesley Parish Priest 9 No Romish Wolf around his Fences prowl'd, Nor Fox Dissenter earth'd within his Fold.
c1820 S. Rogers Italy (1852) 188 Once again he earths, Slipping away to house with them beneath.
1882 Echo 20 Feb. 4/2 The vulp earthed at last, and had to be left for another day.
1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox ii. 115 Holes in the Dyke where a fox might earth.
1954 E. Marshall Amer. Captain xv. 199 A few minutes later the hounds flushed a fox that quickly earthed.
3. transitive. Horticulture. To heap the earth over (the roots and stems of plants), esp. in order to prevent the greening of potato tubers, or to blanch the stems of leeks, celery, etc. Usually with up. Also in extended use. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivate plants or crops [verb (transitive)] > earth up
bank1577
hill1577
mould1601
earth1658
heela1722
to set up1801
landa1806
stitch1805
soil1844
earthen1904
1658 J. Evelyn tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 159 Be not over early in earthing them [sc. artichokes], least they grow rotten.
1664 J. Evelyn Sylva ii. 6 Your plants beginning now to peep should be earthed up, and comforted a little.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 261/2 Yearthing, put Earth about [the kiln].
1719 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 7) 299 In dry Soils, you must Earth up a little our Artichoaks.
1798 C. Marshall Introd. Knowl. & Pract. Gardening (ed. 2) xv. 223 Earth up the plants frequently..a little at a time, in order to blanch them.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist iii. v. 663 Some plant [leeks] in hollow drills, and earth up as in celery culture.
1881 C. Whitehead Hops 8 The plant centres being ‘earthed’ or covered over with a few shovels of earth.
1957 ‘Miss Read’ Village Diary 188 I went and earthed up my celery, on my own.
1988 Sci. Amer. Feb. 6/3 The poor husbandman must often have come to regret failing to earth up his spuds and thereby allowing tubers near the surface to be exposed to light.
2005 Grow your Own Dec. 35/1 Florence Fennel, which is grown for its swollen stem base which must be earthed-up to be blanched.
4. intransitive. English regional (southern). Of a mole: to turn up the ground. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1779 W. Marshall Exper. & Observ. conc. Agric. & Weather 142 Moles, earthing more than usual.
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. Earth, to turn up the ground as a mole does.
5.
a. transitive. To connect to the ground as an electrical conductor; to fit or supply with an earth connection; = ground v. 10c. Cf. earth n.1 6a, earthed adj. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > conduction to earth > connect to earth [verb (transitive)]
ground1881
earth1885
1885 Jrnl. Soc. Telegraph-engineers & Electricians 14 454 I have myself seen a circuit ‘earthed’ at an intermediate station in the middle of a message.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 773/1 Let a conductor—say, a metallic sphere—be supported by a metal rod of negligible capacity whose other end is earthed.
1930 Engineering 7 Mar. 321/3 The necessary apparatus for earthing the neutral point of a three-phase system.
1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xxxviii. 644 If the instrument is not exceptionally sensitive..it may be used to compare the E.M.F.'s of two cells by first earthing the quadrants and determining the zero of the instrument.
1966 Buying Secondhand (Consumers' Assoc.) 72 If the appliance is intended to be earthed, make sure there is an earth wire fitted.
1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) vii. 303/2 Sometimes..the Electricity Company provides a different method of earthing the system.
2008 Daily Express (Nexis) 28 June 40 The disturbing atmosphere in the ‘haunted’ cellar in a pub..turned out to be due to the wiring not being earthed.
b. transitive. figurative. To connect to reality; to ground in authentic experience.
ΚΠ
1971 Studies 60 385 With Marx, the diminution of the individual.., and the optimism of Feuerbach..are earthed and materialized in the severely practical programme of constructing the communist society.
1978 H. Salmon in P. Curno Polit. Issues & Community Work iv. 82 The grass-roots worker has a job to do in keeping the visionary and the political activist earthed in reality.
1984 E. de Waal Seeking God vii. 99 His starting point is simply what one present-day monk calls ‘the stark reality of the humdrum’. For Benedictine life is earthed essentially in its ordinariness and its littleness.
1995 Time Out 9 Aug. 5/2 Brennan praises the prolific young director Katie Mitchell for playing down the pulpit-storming poetics. ‘We're trying to earth it and tell it simply.’
1997 Church Times 12 Dec. 7/2 Half an hour back at the vicarage earthed his words with awful relevance.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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