earth

alternative Scotland airth · alternative dialectal rare erd · alternative obsolete yearth

1. Alternative letter-case form of Earth (“the third planet of the Solar System, upon which humans live”).

   The astronauts saw the earth from the porthole.

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   We live in the flicker - may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling!

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 193

plural earths · alternative Scotland airth · alternative dialectal rare erd · alternative obsolete yearth

1. uncountableSoil.

   This is good earth for growing potatoes.

2. uncountableAny general rock-based material.

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

3. countableuncountableThe ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).

   Birds are of the sky, not of the earth.

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   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

4. UKcountableuncountableA connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.
5. countableuncountableThe 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.

   1898, Sir Alfred Edward Pease, The Badger, Lawrence and Bullen, page 44

   Synonyms: burrow, warren

6. countableuncountableA region of the planet; a land or country.
7. countableuncountableWorldly things, as against spiritual ones.
8. countableuncountableThe 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

9. countablemetonymicallyuncountableThe 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

10. countableuncountableAny 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. archaiccountableuncountableThe human body.
12. countableuncountablephilosophy and TaoismalchemyThe aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.
13. countableobsoleteuncountablechemistryAny of certain substances now known to be oxides of metal, which were distinguished by being infusible, and by insolubility in water.

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    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

present singular third person earths · participle present earthing · participle past earthed · past earthed · alternative Scotland airth · alternative dialectal rare erd · alternative obsolete yearth

1. UKtransitiveTo connect electrically to the earth.

   That noise is because the amplifier is not properly earthed.

   Synonyms: ground

2. transitiveTo 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

3. transitiveTo 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

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   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

4. intransitiveTo burrow.

   foxes earth'd

   a. 1740, Thomas Tickell, Fragment on Hunting

plural Earths · alternative earth

1. uncountableusuallyThe third planet of the Solar System; the world upon which humans live.

   The arrival of the new prefixes means the Earth can now be said to weigh six ronnagrams, and Jupiter about two quettagrams.

   2022 November 18, Ian Sample, “Earth weighs in at six ronnagrams as new prefixes picked for big and small”, in The Guardian

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   It's my theory that we'll keep being reborn on as many Earths as it takes until every person gets it exactly right from the moment they are born until the moment they die.

   2012, Ken Adams, Earth 2... It's Where You Go When You Die

   Synonyms: the Blue Planet, the globe, God's green earth, Sol III, Terra, the world, Middle Earth, Midgard

2. uncountableusuallyThe personification of the Earth or earth, (chiefly) as a fertile woman or (religion) goddess.

   Synonyms: Mother Earth for female forms, world