earth Hear it!

earth Definition

earth (ʉrt̸h)

noun

  1. the planet that we live on; terrestrial globe: it is the fifth largest planet of the solar system and the third in distance from the sun: diameter, c. 12,760 km (c. 7,930 mi); period of revolution, one earth year; period of rotation, 24 hours; one satellite; symbol, ♁: often with the
  2. this world, as distinguished from heaven and hell
  3. all the people on the earth
  4. land, as distinguished from sea or sky; the ground
  5. the soft, granular or crumbly part of land; soil; ground
  6. Old Poet.
    1. the substance of the human body
    2. the human body
    3. the concerns, interests, etc. of human life; worldly matters
  7. the hole of a burrowing animal; lair
  8. Obsolete a land or country
  9. Chem. any of the metallic oxides, formerly classed as elements, which are reduced with difficulty to an alkaline-earth metal, rare-earth element, or certain other metals
  10. Elec., Brit. ground

Etymology: ME erthe < OE eorthe, akin to Ger erde < IE base *er- > Gr era, earth, Welsh erw, field

transitive verb

  1. to cover (up) with soil for protection, as seeds or plants
  2. to chase (an animal) into a hole or burrow

intransitive verb

to hide in a burrow: said of a fox, etc.

earth Idioms

come back to earth

or come down to earth

to stop being impractical; return to reality

down to earth

  1. practical; realistic
  2. sincere; without affectation

go to earth

Chiefly Brit. to go into hiding

on earth

of all things: an intensive used mainly after interrogative pronouns what on earth do you mean?

run to earth

Etymology: < use in fox hunting

  1. to hunt down
  2. to find by search

earth Synonyms

earth

n.

  1. The world

    globe, sphere, planet, universe, terra (Latin), mundane world, creation, terrestrial sphere, orb, monde (French), cosmos, sublunary world, biosphere, Gaea, mother earth, Spaceship Earth.

  2. The earthly crust

    dirt, soil, clean dirt, loam, humus, clay, gravel, sand, ground, terra firma, land, dry land, terrain, mud, muck, topsoil, peat moss, fill, compost, decomposed granite, turf, mold, alluvium, marl, terrane, surface, subsoil, shore, coast, littoral, deposit, glebe.

earth is applied to the globe or planet we live on, but in religious use is opposed to heaven or hell; universe refers to the whole system of planets, stars, space, etc. and to everything that exists in it; world is equivalent to earth, esp. as relates to human activities, but is sometimes a generalized synonym for universe

come back <strong>or </strong>down to earth

be practical, be sensible, return to one's senses, quit dreaming; see awake 1, calm down.

down to earth

practical, realistic, mundane, unpretentious; see practical, rational 1, unaffected 1.

on earth

of all things, of everything, in the world; see whatever.

earth Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • inherit: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
  • orbit: GPS handsets pick up signals from satellites orbiting the Earth.
  • scorch: This policy was known as " scorched earth " and it was not expected by the Germans and severely hindered their armies.
  • roam: We worked to put bread on our plates and roamed the earth between jobs.
  • shake: The war cry of Zulu filled the sky and the tread of Zulu shook the earth.
  • invade: They have constructed these things for the sole purpose of invading Earth.

Adjective modifier

  • bare: A loaf of bread and bare earth for a bed in the company of the beloved, is full happiness.
  • spherical: He rejected all the Greek philosophers, and in doing so also rejected a spherical Earth.
  • compacted: The playgrounds were made of compacted earth until 1933 when drains were put in and they were asphalted.

Modifies a noun

  • science: Students take core modules in biology, geography and earth sciences but the course also offers considerable choice through a range of module options.
  • mound: Additional screening through earth mounds or planting may be needed.
  • mystery: A great deal of work has been done by earth mystery researchers to suggest that certain geophysical conditions may affect the human mind.

Noun used with modifier

planet: Electromagnetic waves of that blast reached planet Earth on March 19th.

Possessives

  • crust: Great cracks appeared in the earth's crust near Stirling.
  • orbit: The Earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical with the sun at one focus of the ellipse, not the center.
  • surface: They would even put an air hole up from the casket to the earth's surface.
  • atmosphere: Unable to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, the X-rays from the flare can only be detected from space.
  • magnetosphere: The Earth's Magnetosphere A fundamental property of space plasmas is that they are collisionless, and as such have extremely high conductivity.
  • rotation: The Earth's rotation carries the Earth's bulges slightly ahead of the point directly beneath the Moon.

Preposition: with

bump: Yet we were brought to earth with a bump in Aboyne.