new groundn.
/ˌnjuː ˈɡraʊnd/, U.S. /ˈn(j)u ˈɡraʊnd/ 1. U.S. regional (chiefly southern and south Midland). Ground or land which has been newly cleared for cultivation; a piece of such land.
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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > cultivated land > newly cultivated land
old landeOE
new ground1624
newtake1791
novalia1838
breaking1867
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iv. 126 We haue ordinarily foure or fiue [barrels of produce an acre], but of new ground six, seuen, and eight.
1769 G. Washington Diaries (1925) I. 333 That piece of New Ground containing 14 Acres next the widow Sheridan's.
1833 Niles' Reg. 44 411/1 He is clearing new grounds; preparing and burning plant-beds.
1852 Florida Plant Rec. 62 Now the Crop is all Planted except the Little Peace of New ground that I cleared at the car Place.
1902 G. C. Eggleston Dorothy South 89 Let's ride to the tobacco new grounds at once.
1949 H. Hornsby Lonesome Valley 44 The next time he looked back Chester's place was like a newground that had been burned over.
1953 Amer. Speech 28 251 [Bedford Co., Pa.] New ground... Pronounced with a heavily accented new and as if it were a single word, newground. ‘There are lots of teaberries this year out on John Bussard's new ground.’ In general use.
1987 D. Drake in S. D. Schiff Whispers vi. 55 She told him..thet I'd clear off the track uv newground they been meanin' t' plant down on Cane Creek.
2. Australian. Part of a goldfield unexploited until recently.
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the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [noun] > tract of land > recently exploited
new ground1857
1857 F. de B. Cooper Wild Adventures 140 Working in the old gullies is always a safe speculation, while sinking in new ground is never certain... In the latter it is mere chance whether gold lies there or not.
1862 Burrangong (New S. Wales) Courier 13 Aug. 2/3 The rush to the Three Mile Diggings..is..going ahead in a most satisfactory manner, and a large extent of new ground has lately been taken up.
1868 Mining Surveyors & Registrars' Rep. (Victoria, Dept. Mines) Sept. 36 At Barkly some new ground has been opened south of the main lead.
1944 M. J. O'Reilly Bowyangs & Boomerangs 11 A Reward Claim is granted to a prospector for finding new ground carrying payable gold.
3. to break new ground: see ground n. 11b.
Compounds
attributive. U.S. regional. Designating crops grown on new ground (sense 1). Now rare.
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1771 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1919) 14 134 Our new ground tob[acc]o here has been housed 3 or 4 days past.
1861 Southern Literary Messenger 33 261/1 Drawing out a large buckhorn handled knife and a twist of ‘newground’ tobacco, [he] cut off a plug..and resorted to the Colonial consolation.
1902 Dial. Notes 2 240 New-ground,..newly cleared land, the first crop on which is called ‘New-ground corn’, or ‘Nêew-ground taters’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1624