earth meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

earth

noun

UK /ɜːθ/ · CA, US /ɝθ/

Etymology

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.

13 senses

1Soil.
2Any general rock-based material.
3The ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).
4A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on…
5The lair or den (as a hole in the ground) of an animal…
6A region of the planet; a land or country.
7Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.
8The world of our current life (as opposed to heaven or…
9The people on the globe.
10Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an…
11The human body.
12The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material…
13Any of certain substances now known to be oxides of…

Soil.

This is good earth for growing potatoes.

Any general rock-based material.

She sighed when the plane's wheels finally touched earth.

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.2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

UK A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.

The lair or den (as a hole in the ground) of an animal such as a fox.

A region of the planet; a land or country.

Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.

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.1819 May, John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 116:

Metonymically The people on the globe.

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one ſpeach.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 11:1, column 2:

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.

Archaic The human body.

Alchemy, Pseudoscience The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.

Philosophy and Taoism

Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Obsolete Any 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.1846, unspecified, METALS, OXIDES, EARTHS AND ALKALIES:

Derived terms: 206 terms
Adamic earth, Adam's earth, alkaline earth, alkaline-earth, alkaline earth metal, alkaline-earth metal, anti-earth, antiearth, black earth, Blue Earth, Blue Earth County, Blue Earth River, bog earth, bone earth, Chian earth, Cologne earth, come down to earth, cost the earth, counter-earth, dark earth, dhobi's earth, diatomaceous earth, down-to-earth, down to earth, Eartha, earth almond, earth-apple, earthapple, earth art, earthbag, earthball, earth ball, earthbank, earth bath, earth-bathing, earthberg, earthberry, earth-berry, earthboard, earthborn, earth-born, earthbound, earth-bound, earthbred, earth-chestnut, earth chestnut, earth closet, earthcreeper, Earth Day, earthdin, earth-diver, earth divinity, earth dog, earth-drake, earthdrake, eartheater, earthen, earthen mound, earthenware, earther, earthfall, earthfast, earth-fast, earthflax, earth-floor, earth floor, earthflow, earthful, earthhog, earth-hog, earthhole, earthhood, earthhouse, earthish, earthism, earthless, earthlike, earthling, earthlore, earthly, earthly paradise, earth metal, earth mother, earth-motherly, earthmover, earth-moving, earth moving, earthmoving, earthness, earth oil, earth pea, earthpea, earthpig, earth pig, earth-pig, earth pillar, earth pitch, earth plate, earth pond, earth pyramid, earthquake, earthrise, earth science, earthscraper, earthset, earthshaker, earthshaking, earthshattering, earth-shattering, earth-shine, earth-ship, earthshock, earth sign, earthslide, earth smoke, earth snake, earthstar, earth station, earth-stopping, earthstorm, earth-tilth, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, earth tone, earth-tongue, earth tongue, earth tremor, earth up, earthward, earthwards, earthware, earthwash, earthwax, earth wire, earthwolf, earthwork, earthworm, earthy, edge of the earth, ends of the earth, flat-earth, flat earther, follow someone to the ends of the earth, Fountains Earth, the face of the earth, fuller's earth, gall-of-the-earth, God's green earth, go the way of all the earth, go to earth, go to the ends of the earth, green earth, green in earth, heavy earth, hell on earth, hollow earther, inearth, Japan earth, Japanese earth, Kassel earth, Lemnian earth, main earth, man-of-the-earth, man of the earth, Middle-earth, middle earth, middle-earth, moot earth, Mother Earth, move heaven and earth, nap-of-the-earth, near-earth, off the face of the earth, old earth creationism, old-earth creationism, on earth, on God's green earth, on the face of the earth, paradise on earth, promise the earth, rammed earth, rare earth, rare earth element, rare-earth element, rare earth magnet, rare earth metal, rare earth mineral, red earth, run to earth, salt of the earth, salt the earth, Samian earth, scorched earth policy, scorched-earth policy, scorched earth, scorched-earth, scum of the earth, seat earth, seatearth, star-of-the-earth, transearth, underearth, unearth, Walker's earth, walker's earth, yellow earth, Young Earth creationism
Related terms: wychert, yedding, moon, sun, world, ♁, 🜨

earth

verb

Etymology

UK To connect electrically to the earth.

That noise is because the amplifier is not properly earthed.

To bury.

The Miſer earths his Treaſure; and the Thief, / Watching the Mole, half-beggars him ere Morn.1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal Heavens. II. A Night-Address to the Deity. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 328:

To hide, or cause to hide, in the earth; to chase into a burrow or den.

[…]the Fox is earth’d,[…]1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 48:
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.1819, John Mayer, The Sportsman's Directory, or Park and Gamekeeper's Companion:

To burrow.

foxes earth'da. 1740, Thomas Tickell, Fragment on Hunting:

Derived terms: earthing, unearth

earth

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