glebe

G2L1E1B3E1
UK/ɡliːb/US/ɡlib/

noun

Turf; soil; ground; sod.

OriginOld French glebe ← Latin glaeba →
Less commonScrabble 8
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Meanings

glebe1

nounglebe (plural glebes)

plural glebes

  1. Turf; soil; ground; sod.

    1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke

  2. historicalIn medieval Europe, an area of land, belonging to a parish, whose revenues contributed towards the parish expenses.
  3. poeticA field or meadow.

    Admiring glebes their amber ears unfold, / And Labour sleep amid the waving gold.

    1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 151
  4. businessA piece of earth containing ore.

Glebe2

proper noun
  1. A suburb of Sydney in the Sydney council area, New South Wales, Australia.
  2. A suburb of the City of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
glebe-land

Origin

  1. Latinglaeba“lump of earth, clod”
  2. Old Frenchglebe
  3. Englishglebe

From Old French glebe, from Latin glaeba (“lump of earth, clod”). Doublet of gleba.

More words from Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian земя́, по́чва
  • земя́ (zemjá)turf
  • по́чва (póčva)turf
  • църко́вна земя́ (cărkóvna zemjá)area of land belonging to a parish
Greek βακούφι, μετόχι
  • βακούφι (vakoúfi)area of land belonging to a parish
  • μετόχι (metóchi)area of land belonging to a parish
Russian дёрн
  • дёрн (djorn)turf
Scottish Gaelic glìb
  • glìbarea of land belonging to a parish

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with glebe

grebeBeebreebplebeshibeseebephebefeeb
All rhymes →

Anagrams

Gebel
Cite this entry
APA

glebe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glebe

MLA

“glebe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glebe. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glebe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glebe.

Source: glebe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.