earthy

comparative earthier · superlative earthiest

1. Resembling dirt or soil (i.e. earth).

   The earthy smell of fresh turned loam told me the farmer had started plowing this morning, the definitive sign of spring for me.

   Synonyms: terreous

2. Composed, or largely composed, of soil.

   Beyond here the tides are not felt, and we now entered upon a district of elevated forest, with a finer vegetation. Large trees stretch out their arms across the stream, and the steep, earthy banks are clothed with ferns and zingiberaceous plants.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 103

3. figurativelyDown-to-earth, not artificial, natural.

   She was an earthy soul, the salt of the earth as they say of such rural folk, untarnished by false civilization.

   2 more examples

   Meekly thou didſt reſign this earthy load / Of Death, call'd Life;

   1673, John Milton, “Sonnet XIV”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 58

   YSL, as he is often called, is equally capable of casual, aristocratic cruelty and earthy, spontaneous tenderness, and when you study his face it can be hard to distinguish boredom from rapture.

   2015 May 7, A. O. Scott, “Review: ‘Saint Laurent,’ Beautiful People, High Fashion and Career at Its Pinnacle”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2019

4. figurativelyCoarse and unrefined, crude.

   earthy humour

5. Like or resembling the earth or of the earth.
6. Covered with earth (mud, dirt).

   He was wet through with the dew and quite earthy from diving into the burrows the Boy had made for him in the flower bed, and Nana grumbled as she rubbed him off with a corner of her apron.

   1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC