earth
proper nounnounverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//ɜːθ//
- Canada//ɝθ//
- New Zealand//ɵːθ//
- //ɜθ//
Soil.
proper noun
- 1
Variant of EarthAlternative letter-case form of Earth (“the third planet of the Solar System, upon which humans live”).
The astronauts saw the earth from the porthole.
We live in the flicker - may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling!
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old English eorþe Middle English erthe English earth From Middle English erthe, from Old English eorþe, from Proto-West Germanic *erþu, from Proto-Germanic *erþō (“dirt, ground, earth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁érteh₂ (“earth”). Cognates Cognate with Scots erd, yerd, yird, yirth (“earth, loam, mould, soil; ground”), Yola eard, eart, eord, eorth, erth (“earth”), North Frisian eerd, eerde, iarde, Iart, iir, jard, örd, Öört (“earth; world”), Saterland Frisian Idde, Äid, Äide (“earth; soil; ground”), West Frisian ierde (“earth; soil; ground”), Alemannic German Ëërde (“earth”), Bavarian Erd, Erdn (“world; soil; ground”), Central Franconian Ääd (“earth”), Cimbrian èerda (“earth”), Dutch aard, aarde (“earth”), German Erde (“earth; soil; ground; world”), German Low German Eer (“earth”), Limburgish eerd (“earth”), Luxembourgish Äerd (“earth; soil”), Vilamovian Ād (“earth”), Yiddish ערד (erd, “earth; soil”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish jord (“earth”), Faroese jørð (“earth”), Icelandic jörð (“earth”), Norn yurn (“the earth”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰 (airþa, “earth”); also Latin ōra (“border, edge, rim”), Breton erv (“ridge between furrows”), Welsh erw (“acre”), Ancient Greek ἔραζε (éraze, “to the ground”), Lithuanian erdvė (“expanse, space”), Albanian varr, vorr (“grave”), Tocharian B āre (“dust, loose earth”), Sanskrit उर्वरा (urvarā, “fertile soil, field yielding crops”), Hittite 𒅕𒄩𒀸 (er-ḫa-aš /erḫaš/, “border, boundary, line”). Probably unrelated, but of unknown etymology, is Old Armenian երկիր (erkir, “earth”). Likewise, the phonologically similar Proto-Semitic *ʔarṣ́- – whence Arabic أَرْض (ʔarḍ), Hebrew אֶרֶץ (ʾereṣ) – is probably unrelated.
noun
- 1
Soil.
This is good earth for growing potatoes.
- 2
Any general rock-based material.
She sighed when the plane's wheels finally touched earth.
- 3
The ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).
Birds are of the sky, not of the earth.
Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.
- 4
A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.
- 5
The lair or den (as a hole in the ground, or a system of tunnels) of an animal, such as a badger.
When a new earth is made I have always found the badger appropriate the holes of rabbits, and proceed to excavate, enlarge, and open them out.
- 6
A region of the planet; a land or country.
- 7
Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.
- 8
The world of our current life (as opposed to heaven or an afterlife).
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
- 9
The people on the globe.
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one ſpeach.
- 10
Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an exoplanet viewed as another earth, or a potential one.
New space telescopes may accelerate the search for other earths that may be out there.
- 11
archaicThe human body.
- 12
The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.
- 13
obsoleteAny of certain substances now known to be oxides of metal, which were distinguished by being infusible, and by insolubility in water.
The term Earths was formerly, and is still, but in a modified sense, applied to several substances which compose all the various rocks, stones, gems, mountains, and soils covering the face of the globe. They are tasteless, inodorous, dry, uninflamable, sparingly soluble, difficult of fusion, and of moderate specific gravity.
verb
- 1
To connect electrically to the earth.
That noise is because the amplifier is not properly earthed.
- 2
To bury.
The Miſer earths his Treaſure; and the Thief, / Watching the Mole, half-beggars him ere Morn.
- 3
To hide, or cause to hide, in the earth; to chase into a burrow or den.
[…]the Fox is earth’d,[…]
This is the time that the horseman are flung out, not having the cry to lead them to the death. When quadruped animals of the venery or hunting kind are at rest, the stag is said to be harboured, the buck lodged, the fox kennelled, the badger earthed, the otter vented or watched, the hare formed, and the rabbit set.
- 4
To burrow.
foxes earth'd
Forms
- plural
- earths
- past tense
- earthed
- past participle
- earthed
- present participle
- earthing
- third person singular
- earths