Definition of earth in English:

earth

noun əːθərθ

1The planet on which we live; the world.
The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 149.6 million km from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon. It has an equatorial diameter of 12,756 km, an average density 5.5 times that of water, and is believed to have formed about 4,600 million years ago. The earth, which is three-quarters covered by oceans and has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, is the only planet known to support life
the diversity of life on earth
Example sentencesExamples
- So most of the fuel that a rocket takes on board is needed simply to escape the Earth's gravity.
- Neither the Earth nor the Moon is a perfect sphere so they do not behave as a point mass.
- Such a machine would break the bounds of the Earth's gravity and shoot off into space.
- It seems that several of the earlier philosophers had concluded that the Earth is a globe.
- The reason why these huts are here is because we wish to find a way of living that does not cause damage to the Earth.
- Imagine a perturbation of the Earth's orbit big enough to change the size of the sun in the sky.
- Galileo used parallax arguments to prove that the New Star could not be close to the Earth.
- In fact, the earthquake was so powerful that the Earth may have even wobbled on its axis.
- The purpose of this project was to help settle the question regarding the shape of the Earth.
- I realized then that the Earth is just a giant rock orbiting around the sun in this empty space.
- Mercury is also the only planet other than Earth that has a global magnetic field.
- The discovery suggests that life could exist on planets very different from Earth.
- At the side of the Earth nearest the Moon the oceans bulge upwards due to its pull.
- The first chapter deals with the shape and place of the Earth within a spherical universe.
- The course of life on planet Earth might even turn out to be described by such a picture.
- This is because Venus and the Earth orbit the Sun at a slight angle to each other.
- He believed that the apparent rotation of the heavens was due to the axial rotation of the Earth.
- We are admonishing those leaders around the world who would invoke war upon the Earth.
- The dust would then scatter some of the sun's rays back into space, cooling off the Earth.
- This makes our very late appearance in the history of the Earth a sensible outcome.
Synonyms
world, globe, planet, sphere, orb
1. 1.1 The surface of the world as distinct from the sky or the sea.
  the pilot brought the plane gently back to earth
  Example sentencesExamples
  As I watched them float to earth, I thought of the risks I've taken.
  The fog, a misty white at the very base of the mountain, where trees still grew, gave way to earth and, as earth gave way to sky, sky gave way to storm clouds.
  The earth plummeted into what appeared to be a succession of bottomless valleys, first on our left, then our right, as we meandered ever upwards.
  Vertical windows allow an appreciation of the connection between earth and sky.
  I am 100 percent certain man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time.
  As the fat, large drops fell from the heavens and hit the parched earth, the land that had once been in a drought rejoiced, and the angels were glad.
  Lightning striking earth is the result of a stormy sky - which electrifies clouds with many million volts.
  The words Mystra had written seemed to sink through the paper and into the very earth itself, like raindrops to a thirsty plant.
  Synonyms
  land, ground, dry land, solid ground, terra firma
  floor
2. 1.2 The present abode of humankind, as distinct from heaven or hell.
  God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven
  Example sentencesExamples
  Together, heaven and earth offer one hymn, one prayer, one feast, and one doxology.
  As the stones at the site indicate, this is a sacred place, a place of communion between heaven and earth, and through his dream Jacob recognizes its powers.
  All that occurs in earth and heaven or in past, present, and future is under the Creator's rule.
  The emphasis that there are heaven and earth founds a distinction between the accessible earth and a transcendent realm that is yet part of the creation.
  Placed in that high position between heaven and earth, the priest is like Moses in battle: he requires people to hold up his arms.
  Helmont saw the cosmos as a living, spiritual organism with no rupture between heaven and earth.
  Holy God of heaven and earth, we are humbled by your divine majesty, and cast about for the best words to honor you.
  A new heaven and a new earth will replace the world as we know it today.
  You may literally be in league with the powers of hell, ruin your life upon earth and miss heaven!
  Never leaving his side, we will gather and store up all of the holy and loving thoughts inspired by the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth.
  And then at long last creation's groans and ours shall end and heaven and earth shall be one.
  He presents earth and heaven, flesh and spirit, as both opposite and parallel; they are counterparts that engender each other by turns.
  Has any other event been powerful enough to rip the veil that separated heaven from earth and reveal a new and living way to the Father?
  God of heaven and earth, Maker of humankind, I cry to you!
  Psalm 104 is an extended hymn about the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator and provider of all.
  You say the Quran speaks of the sun and moon and that God separated earth from heaven.
  God's reign is already present on our earth in mystery.
  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
  The faithless disciple aims for both heaven and earth and gets neither.
  You would be scared out of your mind, but there is nothing more important or more desirable than going before God, Creator of heaven and earth.
2mass noun The substance of the land surface; soil.
a layer of earth
Example sentencesExamples
- Filling materials in an earth dam should be stable against seepage.
- Water movement through the bodies of earth dams can be studied using the Hele-Shaw models.
- Her hands were covered with rubber gloves, and they were soiled with earth.
- Harvest in dry weather, shaking off any loose earth, and leave on the surface of the soil in sun if possible for a few days.
- The loosened earth and weakened banks are more prone to collapsing then.
- These do not actually include a power which would have enabled the council to go upon the land of British Rail and remove the bank of earth.
- Trotsky asserted that, just as an earthquake revealed the layers of earth and rock beneath the surface, so a social upheaval would uncover the layers of society and its myriad forms.
- The weapons were concealed in a barrel, hidden in a bank of earth.
- Sunshine fell through the plastic windows of the hexagonal room and landed on containers of earth now devoid of the necessity for protection.
- A hole is either drilled or dug through the surface layers of earth until a water bearing layer is encountered.
- Veil desperately tried to leap out, but a big clod of earth landed on his head.
- In this case a motorcyclist was injured in a collision at a junction where visibility was restricted by a bank of earth on land owned by British Rail.
- Made of rammed earth - the soil excavated from the site - the wall alleviated the need to buy soil or use wood to fence the property.
- January's garden is one huddled below ground; its plants submerged beneath a thick layer of frozen earth, itself shrouded beneath a thick carpet of snow.
- When the flow slowed, the river would deposit its burden of silt, forming a new layer of earth.
- Cover the ground with cardboard or newspaper, followed by a thin layer of earth.
- We come to a bridge under construction, the solid grey concrete piles in stark contrast to the compacted red earth comprising the river banks.
- And the rear of the homes are banked up fully with earth, with grass right up across the roof.
- At the end of each day the rubbish deposits are covered in a layer of earth, and there are stringent measures to stop polluted water leaking into the ground.
- They say the trees and the bank of earth next to the railway line currently absorb noise from the trains, and the loss of these will lead to more noise and shaking when they pass.
- Under the layers of earth, something begins to move.
- We also used earth in the soil cement floor of the kitchen and one cottage.
Synonyms
soil, topsoil, loam, clay, silt, dirt, sod, clod, turf
ground, terrain
1. 2.1 One of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to the nature of the signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn)
  as modifier an earth sign
  Example sentencesExamples
  The one thing that is true, and which you have obviously understood, is that each of the sun signs belongs to a particular element - fire, earth, air or water.
  These tools represent the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water.
  Virgo is an earth sign, which is ruled by pragmatism and logic.
  But as the month passes, three of these four activating planets gradually shift into the more demure earth sign of Virgo.
  If I'm looking at the best time to plow my field, I want an earth sign rising.
  There are four elements - earth, air, fire and water, and three qualities - cardinal, fixed and mutable.
  Virgo has a mutable earth symbol, meaning that the ground is soft and moveable; the perfect type to grow plants in.
  It was a story he recognised could only be told in terms of the four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, water.
  An earth sign, they have a particular love of helping in the garden, and of long country walks - and they usually love the rain.
  There are also four elements: fire, earth, air and water; and four humors - choler or yellow bile, melancholer or black bile, blood and phlegm.
  It is true that they may not have the flair and excessive energy of their fellow Ariens, for the fire of their Sun sign is grounded by the Taurus earth provided in the Moon sign.
  As the cardinal earth sign Capricorn portrays the enduring and irrepressible spirit of nature.
  The presidents who fell prey to the curse all were elected in years when Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in an earth sign.
  Every part of the regimen was directed by the actions of the four cosmological elements - earth, air, fire, and water - and their correct balance within the body.
  Because melancholy has as its element earth - dull, heavy and common - it is often not afforded this consideration.
  These numbered cards represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water, and usually deal with specific issues and courses of action.
  Everything was made up of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, and their linked qualities of cold, wet, hot and dry.
  To our ancestors, the ancient elements of earth, air, fire and water had profound significance.
  Yet suspicion of other people's culinary rectitude, along with the practicality of an earth sign, helps make well-adjusted Virgoans splendid cooks.
  Being an earth sign, he is willing to focus on the long term and whatever he began nine years ago should now come to fruition.
2. 2.2count noun Used in names of stable, dense, non-volatile inorganic substances, e.g. fuller's earth.
  these crayons are made with a mixture of native earths plus softeners such as China clay
  Example sentencesExamples
  By the usual convention, the element he obtained became known as cerium (all the earths had names ending in - ia, with the ending changed to - ium for the element).
  Around 3000 b.c., the Sumerians found that they could obtain copper from certain earths, or ores, by heating the earths with a source of carbon such as straw.
  Mix 1 part sodium citrate to 6 parts water and 6 parts glycerin and add enough whiting or fuller's earth to make a thick paste.
  The palette for fresco painting is traditionally restricted to earths, lime white, carbon black, ultramarine, and glass.
  I use a classic fullers earth, glycerine & washing-up liquid mixture, rubbed well into the line.
  A year later Charles Galissard de Marignac in Geneva found a further earth in this substance, which Lecoq isolated in 1886 and called gadolinium.
  Sparkling or still, it is purified ‘using naturally occurring ceramic earths, coconut and anthracite carbon to create a great house taste’.
  The use of gritty materials such as diatomaceous earth scattered on the soil surface is also used.
  Ancient and primitive tribes used these plants, often combined with different earths, to colour and decorate their faces and bodies.
  The soils that are then produced are known as acid brown earths, sols lessivés, or luvisols in the FAO - UNESCO classification.
3. 2.3literary The substance of the human body.
  we now commit his body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust
  Example sentencesExamples
  You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us.
  The book is full of ghosts for whom the poet feels duty-bound to speak, and for the most part his theme is what the ghosts long for, the lovely body of earth.
3British mass noun Electrical connection to the ground, regarded as having zero electrical potential.
ensure metal fittings are electrically bonded to earth
North American term ground (sense 7 of the noun)
Example sentencesExamples
- It is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted.
- The earth wire was then sleeved in Techflex braid and aquarium hose with some heatshrink added to secure the end.
- When electricity starts to arc from a wire to a metal surface this acts as an earth and causes a massive current flow which would normally blow any fuse.
- Older electrical systems in council flats don't have earth wires.
- It has exposed mains voltage solder points on top, no earth connection and one very flimsy and very dull aluminium end.
4The underground lair of a badger or fox.
Example sentencesExamples
- Indeed The International Fund for Animal Welfare has frequently uncovered hunts around the country that use artificial earths and food trails to entice foxes on to their land.
- The night before the hunt, foxhunters cover up any earths and badger setts to make sure that the foxes have to run until exhausted.
- Some hunts even constructed artificial earths within their coverts to further encourage the fox population.
- They made a number of other estimates, like the number of cubs they believe were born on their farm, the number of breeding earths and other things, all of which were published.
- Foxhunters block up earths and badger setts the night before the hunt to ensure that foxes are forced to run until exhausted.
- I will also point out that foxes cannot pose a real danger to game or livestock because huntsmen in some counties build artificial earths to encourage foxes to live and breed there.
- Foxes, chased to exhaustion and death, are often dug out of their earths and feel great pain.
- Many hunts take steps the night before, or early on the day of the hunt, to block up the entrances to earths, badger setts and artificial places such as drains.
Synonyms
den, lair, sett, burrow, warren, tunnel, hole, cave
retreat, shelter, hideout, hideaway, hiding place
habitation
informal hidey-hole

verb əːθərθ

[with object]

1British Connect (an electrical device) with the ground.
the front metal panels must be soundly earthed
Example sentencesExamples
- When the fencer is correctly earthed, all insulators and connections are correct and there is no vegetation growth on the wire.
- Using a computer in Antarctica, even inside the base, meant having to wear a wristband to earth oneself from ever-present static electricity shocks.
- They are not able to be earthed, filtered, or shielded electrically.
- Brown found that although pylons are earthed to make them safe, it is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted.
- It was only because the bottom of the sheet stuck in the ground and was earthed that James survived.
- The system is earthed by the screws into the metal box in the wall.
- Your machine is being earthed by the earth cable in the power cord.
- Having first checked that everything was earthed off, we went unplugging cables.
- The outer (armour-plated) plate is earthed while the insulated inner plate is live.
- As deck crew, don't touch the winchman or cable until he or it has been earthed - sparks could fly.
- When plugged in, the pump is earthed and I have a little more piece of mind!
2Hunting
Drive (a fox) to its underground lair.
1. 2.1no object (of a fox) run to its underground lair.
3earth something upCover the root and lower stem of a plant with heaped-up earth.
the stems can be earthed up when the plant is about one foot high
Example sentencesExamples
- I used the rest of my large bucketful on the potatoes in the dustbin to earth them up.
- The stems can be blanched by earthing them up, which makes the astringent flavour milder.
- Instead of earthing my potatoes up, I've been mulching some of them with excess swiss chard and lettuce plants I have been cutting down recently.
- You will, however, have to do some digging: once to plant the seed potatoes; once to earth them up to prevent the new tubers growing on the surface and becoming poisonously green; and once to lift the resultant crop.

Phrases

come (or bring someone) back (down) to earth

Return (or cause someone to return) to reality after a period of daydreaming or excitement.
a sharp knock at the door brought him back to earth
Example sentencesExamples
- I am indescribably relieved that Ma has come back down to earth - it is now possible to have a conversation with her like a normal person.
- The only trouble with this form of mental escape is that sooner or later you must come back to earth, the jolt of this being pretty terrific.
- I've got such a buzz at the moment I don't know when I'll come back down to earth.
- The problem with holidays is coming back to earth afterwards.
- It's only after leaving the shop that you have to come back down to earth.
- Sarah said: ‘It has been an opportunity to relax and come to terms with what Sally and I have achieved before returning home and coming back down to earth.’
- They've just come back after winning an Olympic gold medal so they are going to be on a high, but they have also got to come back down to earth.
- It's been a really hectic few days, and I'm only now beginning to come back down to earth.
- This is by far the best prize we have ever won and I think it will take quite a while to come back down to earth.
- I get really lost in a piece of work and come back to earth with a bump when I have to stop.
Synonyms
compose oneself, recover one's composure, regain one's composure, control oneself, recover one's self-control, regain one's self-control, pull oneself together, keep one's head, simmer down, cool down, cool off, take it easy

the earth

A very large amount.
her hat cost the earth
Example sentencesExamples
- Why are we too scared to ask for high standards on a job that's costing us the earth?
- He stressed it didn't have to cost the earth to cook fresh locally grown produced.
- Yet he has a mortgage, a young family, and does not want to pay the earth for it.
- We have a council that promises the earth but provides road calming and roundabouts.

the earth moved (or did the earth move for you?)

humorous One had (or did you have?) an orgasm.
Example sentencesExamples
- Of those, a bare majority of 55% admitted that the earth moved for them.
- It's been a while since the earth moved for dear old John, bless him.

go to earth

1(of a hunted animal) hide in an underground burrow.
the fox would go to earth and stay there till dark
Example sentencesExamples
- I saw it go to earth as I got between two buildings on Foss Islands Road.
- After a two hour chase it finally went to earth but a trap was set and the fox captured the next day and bagged so ‘it will again afford another day's sport’.
Synonyms
hide, go into hiding, hide out, find a hiding place, conceal oneself, keep out of sight, keep a low profile, take cover, go to earth, go to ground, go underground, cover one's tracks, lurk, skulk
1. 1.1Go into hiding.
  he'd gone to earth after that meeting
  Example sentencesExamples
  She had gone to earth in the pit opened by the torn-up roots of a fallen tree, and sprang out at his approach.
  An anti-hunting MP was forced to go to earth in the face of a noisy protest at one of his routine constituency surgeries by angry Yorkshire hunt supporters.
  Intelligence forces have complained that several high-profile suspects they'd been keeping an eye on have gone to earth and now can't be found.

like nothing on earth

informal Very strange.
they looked like nothing on earth
Example sentencesExamples
- He was quiet as a lamb and as clever as a thoroughbred, but he looked like nothing on earth, so we lost him.
- After a sunny morning it smells like nothing on earth - it keeps rubber-neckers away but attracts every dog for miles around!
- What turned up was quite a surprise. It looked like black pudding but tasted like nothing on earth.
- There was a sound like nothing on earth: groups of male capuchin birds attract females with sounds like the whine of some outer-space cicada insect crossed with a sick cow.
- The noise would be like nothing on earth - certainly nothing in Bellagio.
Synonyms
weird, eccentric, odd, peculiar, funny, bizarre, unusual, abnormal

on earth

Used for emphasis, especially in questions and negative statements.
who on earth would venture out in weather like this?
Example sentencesExamples
- So my question is, how on earth do you keep tabs on all of the available programming?
- You may wonder what on earth has prompted me to ask such a question, so let me explain.
- I am curious to find out what on earth possessed him to do this and why a lime?
- After all, who on earth is interested in reading about our inability to cope?
- Why on earth would I want to go near the things which filled me with so much fear?
- The question that remains to baffle us is why on earth it took so long for anything to be done.
- How on earth are the sport stars of the future ever going to get that edge over the competition.
- How on earth do you manage so many top class horses and find dates and races for them all?
- Why on earth do they bother selling them to anyone when it's clear no librarians want to read them?
- So why on earth does he want to make yet another death-defying walk in the Grand Canyon?
Synonyms
at all, in any way, on earth

Origin

Old English eorthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aarde and German Erde.

It is impossible to tell which meaning of earth came first in English: the senses ‘the ground’, ‘our planet’, and ‘soil’ are all found in Old English. Related words in other languages are German Erde and Dutch aarde, as in aardvark. Earth meaning ‘the underground lair of a badger or fox’ dates from the late Middle Ages. ‘The earth’ has been used in idioms like pay the earth, cost the earth and expect the earth since the 1920s. Many of the earliest examples are by the comic novelist P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975)—he probably did not invent them, but spotted new slang expressions of the day. We think of earthling as being a term from science fiction, but it actually goes back at least as far as 1593: ‘We (of all earthlings) are God's utmost subjects’ (Thomas Nashe, Christ's Tears).

Rhymes

berth, birth, dearth, firth, girth, mirth, Perth, worth

Definition of earth in US English:

earth

nounərTHərθ

1The planet on which we live; the world.
The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 90 million miles (149.6 million km) from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon. It has an equatorial diameter of 7,654 miles (12,756 km), an average density 5.5 times that of water, and is believed to have formed about 4,600 million years ago. The earth, which is three-quarters covered by oceans and has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, is the only planet known to support life
the diversity of life on earth
Example sentencesExamples
- So most of the fuel that a rocket takes on board is needed simply to escape the Earth's gravity.
- Imagine a perturbation of the Earth's orbit big enough to change the size of the sun in the sky.
- The dust would then scatter some of the sun's rays back into space, cooling off the Earth.
- The discovery suggests that life could exist on planets very different from Earth.
- Such a machine would break the bounds of the Earth's gravity and shoot off into space.
- This is because Venus and the Earth orbit the Sun at a slight angle to each other.
- It seems that several of the earlier philosophers had concluded that the Earth is a globe.
- At the side of the Earth nearest the Moon the oceans bulge upwards due to its pull.
- Galileo used parallax arguments to prove that the New Star could not be close to the Earth.
- In fact, the earthquake was so powerful that the Earth may have even wobbled on its axis.
- The reason why these huts are here is because we wish to find a way of living that does not cause damage to the Earth.
- Neither the Earth nor the Moon is a perfect sphere so they do not behave as a point mass.
- He believed that the apparent rotation of the heavens was due to the axial rotation of the Earth.
- I realized then that the Earth is just a giant rock orbiting around the sun in this empty space.
- Mercury is also the only planet other than Earth that has a global magnetic field.
- The first chapter deals with the shape and place of the Earth within a spherical universe.
- This makes our very late appearance in the history of the Earth a sensible outcome.
- The course of life on planet Earth might even turn out to be described by such a picture.
- The purpose of this project was to help settle the question regarding the shape of the Earth.
- We are admonishing those leaders around the world who would invoke war upon the Earth.
Synonyms
world, globe, planet, sphere, orb
1. 1.1 The surface of the world as distinct from the sky or the sea.
  it plummeted back to earth at 60 mph
  Example sentencesExamples
  As I watched them float to earth, I thought of the risks I've taken.
  The earth plummeted into what appeared to be a succession of bottomless valleys, first on our left, then our right, as we meandered ever upwards.
  As the fat, large drops fell from the heavens and hit the parched earth, the land that had once been in a drought rejoiced, and the angels were glad.
  The fog, a misty white at the very base of the mountain, where trees still grew, gave way to earth and, as earth gave way to sky, sky gave way to storm clouds.
  Lightning striking earth is the result of a stormy sky - which electrifies clouds with many million volts.
  I am 100 percent certain man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time.
  The words Mystra had written seemed to sink through the paper and into the very earth itself, like raindrops to a thirsty plant.
  Vertical windows allow an appreciation of the connection between earth and sky.
  Synonyms
  land, ground, dry land, solid ground, terra firma
2. 1.2 The present abode of humankind, as distinct from heaven or hell.
  God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven
  Example sentencesExamples
  He presents earth and heaven, flesh and spirit, as both opposite and parallel; they are counterparts that engender each other by turns.
  The emphasis that there are heaven and earth founds a distinction between the accessible earth and a transcendent realm that is yet part of the creation.
  God of heaven and earth, Maker of humankind, I cry to you!
  And then at long last creation's groans and ours shall end and heaven and earth shall be one.
  Has any other event been powerful enough to rip the veil that separated heaven from earth and reveal a new and living way to the Father?
  You would be scared out of your mind, but there is nothing more important or more desirable than going before God, Creator of heaven and earth.
  You say the Quran speaks of the sun and moon and that God separated earth from heaven.
  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
  Holy God of heaven and earth, we are humbled by your divine majesty, and cast about for the best words to honor you.
  As the stones at the site indicate, this is a sacred place, a place of communion between heaven and earth, and through his dream Jacob recognizes its powers.
  Never leaving his side, we will gather and store up all of the holy and loving thoughts inspired by the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth.
  God's reign is already present on our earth in mystery.
  All that occurs in earth and heaven or in past, present, and future is under the Creator's rule.
  You may literally be in league with the powers of hell, ruin your life upon earth and miss heaven!
  Psalm 104 is an extended hymn about the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator and provider of all.
  Together, heaven and earth offer one hymn, one prayer, one feast, and one doxology.
  The faithless disciple aims for both heaven and earth and gets neither.
  A new heaven and a new earth will replace the world as we know it today.
  Placed in that high position between heaven and earth, the priest is like Moses in battle: he requires people to hold up his arms.
  Helmont saw the cosmos as a living, spiritual organism with no rupture between heaven and earth.
2The substance of the land surface; soil.
a layer of earth
Example sentencesExamples
- January's garden is one huddled below ground; its plants submerged beneath a thick layer of frozen earth, itself shrouded beneath a thick carpet of snow.
- Water movement through the bodies of earth dams can be studied using the Hele-Shaw models.
- We come to a bridge under construction, the solid grey concrete piles in stark contrast to the compacted red earth comprising the river banks.
- Harvest in dry weather, shaking off any loose earth, and leave on the surface of the soil in sun if possible for a few days.
- Trotsky asserted that, just as an earthquake revealed the layers of earth and rock beneath the surface, so a social upheaval would uncover the layers of society and its myriad forms.
- When the flow slowed, the river would deposit its burden of silt, forming a new layer of earth.
- Cover the ground with cardboard or newspaper, followed by a thin layer of earth.
- Made of rammed earth - the soil excavated from the site - the wall alleviated the need to buy soil or use wood to fence the property.
- Sunshine fell through the plastic windows of the hexagonal room and landed on containers of earth now devoid of the necessity for protection.
- At the end of each day the rubbish deposits are covered in a layer of earth, and there are stringent measures to stop polluted water leaking into the ground.
- Filling materials in an earth dam should be stable against seepage.
- And the rear of the homes are banked up fully with earth, with grass right up across the roof.
- Under the layers of earth, something begins to move.
- Her hands were covered with rubber gloves, and they were soiled with earth.
- These do not actually include a power which would have enabled the council to go upon the land of British Rail and remove the bank of earth.
- The weapons were concealed in a barrel, hidden in a bank of earth.
- The loosened earth and weakened banks are more prone to collapsing then.
- They say the trees and the bank of earth next to the railway line currently absorb noise from the trains, and the loss of these will lead to more noise and shaking when they pass.
- In this case a motorcyclist was injured in a collision at a junction where visibility was restricted by a bank of earth on land owned by British Rail.
- Veil desperately tried to leap out, but a big clod of earth landed on his head.
- A hole is either drilled or dug through the surface layers of earth until a water bearing layer is encountered.
- We also used earth in the soil cement floor of the kitchen and one cottage.
Synonyms
soil, topsoil, loam, clay, silt, dirt, sod, clod, turf
1. 2.1 One of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to certain signs of the zodiac).
  Example sentencesExamples
  There are also four elements: fire, earth, air and water; and four humors - choler or yellow bile, melancholer or black bile, blood and phlegm.
  Virgo is an earth sign, which is ruled by pragmatism and logic.
  An earth sign, they have a particular love of helping in the garden, and of long country walks - and they usually love the rain.
  Everything was made up of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, and their linked qualities of cold, wet, hot and dry.
  The one thing that is true, and which you have obviously understood, is that each of the sun signs belongs to a particular element - fire, earth, air or water.
  To our ancestors, the ancient elements of earth, air, fire and water had profound significance.
  There are four elements - earth, air, fire and water, and three qualities - cardinal, fixed and mutable.
  These tools represent the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water.
  But as the month passes, three of these four activating planets gradually shift into the more demure earth sign of Virgo.
  It is true that they may not have the flair and excessive energy of their fellow Ariens, for the fire of their Sun sign is grounded by the Taurus earth provided in the Moon sign.
  If I'm looking at the best time to plow my field, I want an earth sign rising.
  Yet suspicion of other people's culinary rectitude, along with the practicality of an earth sign, helps make well-adjusted Virgoans splendid cooks.
  Being an earth sign, he is willing to focus on the long term and whatever he began nine years ago should now come to fruition.
  These numbered cards represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water, and usually deal with specific issues and courses of action.
  Virgo has a mutable earth symbol, meaning that the ground is soft and moveable; the perfect type to grow plants in.
  It was a story he recognised could only be told in terms of the four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, water.
  Because melancholy has as its element earth - dull, heavy and common - it is often not afforded this consideration.
  The presidents who fell prey to the curse all were elected in years when Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in an earth sign.
  As the cardinal earth sign Capricorn portrays the enduring and irrepressible spirit of nature.
  Every part of the regimen was directed by the actions of the four cosmological elements - earth, air, fire, and water - and their correct balance within the body.
2. 2.2 Used in names of stable, dense, nonvolatile inorganic substances, e.g. fuller's earth.
  Example sentencesExamples
  The soils that are then produced are known as acid brown earths, sols lessivés, or luvisols in the FAO - UNESCO classification.
  By the usual convention, the element he obtained became known as cerium (all the earths had names ending in - ia, with the ending changed to - ium for the element).
  The use of gritty materials such as diatomaceous earth scattered on the soil surface is also used.
  Mix 1 part sodium citrate to 6 parts water and 6 parts glycerin and add enough whiting or fuller's earth to make a thick paste.
  A year later Charles Galissard de Marignac in Geneva found a further earth in this substance, which Lecoq isolated in 1886 and called gadolinium.
  Sparkling or still, it is purified ‘using naturally occurring ceramic earths, coconut and anthracite carbon to create a great house taste’.
  Around 3000 b.c., the Sumerians found that they could obtain copper from certain earths, or ores, by heating the earths with a source of carbon such as straw.
  I use a classic fullers earth, glycerine & washing-up liquid mixture, rubbed well into the line.
  The palette for fresco painting is traditionally restricted to earths, lime white, carbon black, ultramarine, and glass.
  Ancient and primitive tribes used these plants, often combined with different earths, to colour and decorate their faces and bodies.
3. 2.3literary The substance of the human body.
  Example sentencesExamples
  You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us.
  The book is full of ghosts for whom the poet feels duty-bound to speak, and for the most part his theme is what the ghosts long for, the lovely body of earth.
3British Electrical connection to the earth, regarded as having zero electrical potential; ground.
Example sentencesExamples
- It has exposed mains voltage solder points on top, no earth connection and one very flimsy and very dull aluminium end.
- When electricity starts to arc from a wire to a metal surface this acts as an earth and causes a massive current flow which would normally blow any fuse.
- The earth wire was then sleeved in Techflex braid and aquarium hose with some heatshrink added to secure the end.
- Older electrical systems in council flats don't have earth wires.
- It is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted.
4The underground lair or habitation of a badger or fox.
Example sentencesExamples
- They made a number of other estimates, like the number of cubs they believe were born on their farm, the number of breeding earths and other things, all of which were published.
- Some hunts even constructed artificial earths within their coverts to further encourage the fox population.
- Foxhunters block up earths and badger setts the night before the hunt to ensure that foxes are forced to run until exhausted.
- The night before the hunt, foxhunters cover up any earths and badger setts to make sure that the foxes have to run until exhausted.
- I will also point out that foxes cannot pose a real danger to game or livestock because huntsmen in some counties build artificial earths to encourage foxes to live and breed there.
- Foxes, chased to exhaustion and death, are often dug out of their earths and feel great pain.
- Many hunts take steps the night before, or early on the day of the hunt, to block up the entrances to earths, badger setts and artificial places such as drains.
- Indeed The International Fund for Animal Welfare has frequently uncovered hunts around the country that use artificial earths and food trails to entice foxes on to their land.
Synonyms
den, lair, sett, burrow, warren, tunnel, hole, cave

verbərTHərθ

[with object]

1earth something upCover the root and lower stem of a plant with heaped-up earth.
Example sentencesExamples
- The stems can be blanched by earthing them up, which makes the astringent flavour milder.
- I used the rest of my large bucketful on the potatoes in the dustbin to earth them up.
- Instead of earthing my potatoes up, I've been mulching some of them with excess swiss chard and lettuce plants I have been cutting down recently.
- You will, however, have to do some digging: once to plant the seed potatoes; once to earth them up to prevent the new tubers growing on the surface and becoming poisonously green; and once to lift the resultant crop.
2Hunting
Drive (a fox) to its underground lair.
1. 2.1no object (of a fox) run to its underground lair.
3British Connect (an electrical device) with the ground.
Example sentencesExamples
- The outer (armour-plated) plate is earthed while the insulated inner plate is live.
- They are not able to be earthed, filtered, or shielded electrically.
- When the fencer is correctly earthed, all insulators and connections are correct and there is no vegetation growth on the wire.
- When plugged in, the pump is earthed and I have a little more piece of mind!
- Having first checked that everything was earthed off, we went unplugging cables.
- Your machine is being earthed by the earth cable in the power cord.
- Brown found that although pylons are earthed to make them safe, it is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted.
- As deck crew, don't touch the winchman or cable until he or it has been earthed - sparks could fly.
- Using a computer in Antarctica, even inside the base, meant having to wear a wristband to earth oneself from ever-present static electricity shocks.
- The system is earthed by the screws into the metal box in the wall.
- It was only because the bottom of the sheet stuck in the ground and was earthed that James survived.

Phrases

come (or bring someone) back (down) to earth

Return (or cause someone to return) to reality after a period of daydreaming or excitement.
Example sentencesExamples
- I've got such a buzz at the moment I don't know when I'll come back down to earth.
- I am indescribably relieved that Ma has come back down to earth - it is now possible to have a conversation with her like a normal person.
- The only trouble with this form of mental escape is that sooner or later you must come back to earth, the jolt of this being pretty terrific.
- Sarah said: ‘It has been an opportunity to relax and come to terms with what Sally and I have achieved before returning home and coming back down to earth.’
- I get really lost in a piece of work and come back to earth with a bump when I have to stop.
- This is by far the best prize we have ever won and I think it will take quite a while to come back down to earth.
- It's been a really hectic few days, and I'm only now beginning to come back down to earth.
- The problem with holidays is coming back to earth afterwards.
- It's only after leaving the shop that you have to come back down to earth.
- They've just come back after winning an Olympic gold medal so they are going to be on a high, but they have also got to come back down to earth.
Synonyms
compose oneself, recover one's composure, regain one's composure, control oneself, recover one's self-control, regain one's self-control, pull oneself together, keep one's head, simmer down, cool down, cool off, take it easy

the earth moved (or did the earth move for you?)

humorous One had (or did you have?) an orgasm.
Example sentencesExamples
- It's been a while since the earth moved for dear old John, bless him.
- Of those, a bare majority of 55% admitted that the earth moved for them.

go to earth

1(of a hunted animal) hide in an underground burrow.
Example sentencesExamples
- After a two hour chase it finally went to earth but a trap was set and the fox captured the next day and bagged so ‘it will again afford another day's sport’.
- I saw it go to earth as I got between two buildings on Foss Islands Road.
Synonyms
hide, go into hiding, hide out, find a hiding place, conceal oneself, keep out of sight, keep a low profile, take cover, go to earth, go to ground, go underground, cover one's tracks, lurk, skulk
1. 1.1Go into hiding.
  he'd gone to earth after that meeting
  Example sentencesExamples
  An anti-hunting MP was forced to go to earth in the face of a noisy protest at one of his routine constituency surgeries by angry Yorkshire hunt supporters.
  Intelligence forces have complained that several high-profile suspects they'd been keeping an eye on have gone to earth and now can't be found.
  She had gone to earth in the pit opened by the torn-up roots of a fallen tree, and sprang out at his approach.

like nothing on earth

informal Very strange.
they looked like nothing on earth
Example sentencesExamples
- There was a sound like nothing on earth: groups of male capuchin birds attract females with sounds like the whine of some outer-space cicada insect crossed with a sick cow.
- What turned up was quite a surprise. It looked like black pudding but tasted like nothing on earth.
- He was quiet as a lamb and as clever as a thoroughbred, but he looked like nothing on earth, so we lost him.
- After a sunny morning it smells like nothing on earth - it keeps rubber-neckers away but attracts every dog for miles around!
- The noise would be like nothing on earth - certainly nothing in Bellagio.
Synonyms
weird, eccentric, odd, peculiar, funny, bizarre, unusual, abnormal

on earth

Used for emphasis.
who on earth would venture out in weather like this?
Example sentencesExamples
- Why on earth would I want to go near the things which filled me with so much fear?
- So my question is, how on earth do you keep tabs on all of the available programming?
- How on earth are the sport stars of the future ever going to get that edge over the competition.
- Why on earth do they bother selling them to anyone when it's clear no librarians want to read them?
- You may wonder what on earth has prompted me to ask such a question, so let me explain.
- After all, who on earth is interested in reading about our inability to cope?
- So why on earth does he want to make yet another death-defying walk in the Grand Canyon?
- How on earth do you manage so many top class horses and find dates and races for them all?
- I am curious to find out what on earth possessed him to do this and why a lime?
- The question that remains to baffle us is why on earth it took so long for anything to be done.
Synonyms
at all, in any way, on earth

Origin

Old English eorthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aarde and German Erde.

单词	earth
释义	Definition of earth in English: earth noun əːθərθ 1The planet on which we live; the world. The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 149.6 million km from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon. It has an equatorial diameter of 12,756 km, an average density 5.5 times that of water, and is believed to have formed about 4,600 million years ago. The earth, which is three-quarters covered by oceans and has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, is the only planet known to support life the diversity of life on earth Example sentencesExamples So most of the fuel that a rocket takes on board is needed simply to escape the Earth's gravity. Neither the Earth nor the Moon is a perfect sphere so they do not behave as a point mass. Such a machine would break the bounds of the Earth's gravity and shoot off into space. It seems that several of the earlier philosophers had concluded that the Earth is a globe. The reason why these huts are here is because we wish to find a way of living that does not cause damage to the Earth. Imagine a perturbation of the Earth's orbit big enough to change the size of the sun in the sky. Galileo used parallax arguments to prove that the New Star could not be close to the Earth. In fact, the earthquake was so powerful that the Earth may have even wobbled on its axis. The purpose of this project was to help settle the question regarding the shape of the Earth. I realized then that the Earth is just a giant rock orbiting around the sun in this empty space. Mercury is also the only planet other than Earth that has a global magnetic field. The discovery suggests that life could exist on planets very different from Earth. At the side of the Earth nearest the Moon the oceans bulge upwards due to its pull. The first chapter deals with the shape and place of the Earth within a spherical universe. The course of life on planet Earth might even turn out to be described by such a picture. This is because Venus and the Earth orbit the Sun at a slight angle to each other. He believed that the apparent rotation of the heavens was due to the axial rotation of the Earth. We are admonishing those leaders around the world who would invoke war upon the Earth. The dust would then scatter some of the sun's rays back into space, cooling off the Earth. This makes our very late appearance in the history of the Earth a sensible outcome. Synonyms world, globe, planet, sphere, orb 1.1 The surface of the world as distinct from the sky or the sea. the pilot brought the plane gently back to earth Example sentencesExamples As I watched them float to earth, I thought of the risks I've taken. The fog, a misty white at the very base of the mountain, where trees still grew, gave way to earth and, as earth gave way to sky, sky gave way to storm clouds. The earth plummeted into what appeared to be a succession of bottomless valleys, first on our left, then our right, as we meandered ever upwards. Vertical windows allow an appreciation of the connection between earth and sky. I am 100 percent certain man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time. As the fat, large drops fell from the heavens and hit the parched earth, the land that had once been in a drought rejoiced, and the angels were glad. Lightning striking earth is the result of a stormy sky - which electrifies clouds with many million volts. The words Mystra had written seemed to sink through the paper and into the very earth itself, like raindrops to a thirsty plant. Synonyms land, ground, dry land, solid ground, terra firma floor 1.2 The present abode of humankind, as distinct from heaven or hell. God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven Example sentencesExamples Together, heaven and earth offer one hymn, one prayer, one feast, and one doxology. As the stones at the site indicate, this is a sacred place, a place of communion between heaven and earth, and through his dream Jacob recognizes its powers. All that occurs in earth and heaven or in past, present, and future is under the Creator's rule. The emphasis that there are heaven and earth founds a distinction between the accessible earth and a transcendent realm that is yet part of the creation. Placed in that high position between heaven and earth, the priest is like Moses in battle: he requires people to hold up his arms. Helmont saw the cosmos as a living, spiritual organism with no rupture between heaven and earth. Holy God of heaven and earth, we are humbled by your divine majesty, and cast about for the best words to honor you. A new heaven and a new earth will replace the world as we know it today. You may literally be in league with the powers of hell, ruin your life upon earth and miss heaven! Never leaving his side, we will gather and store up all of the holy and loving thoughts inspired by the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth. And then at long last creation's groans and ours shall end and heaven and earth shall be one. He presents earth and heaven, flesh and spirit, as both opposite and parallel; they are counterparts that engender each other by turns. Has any other event been powerful enough to rip the veil that separated heaven from earth and reveal a new and living way to the Father? God of heaven and earth, Maker of humankind, I cry to you! Psalm 104 is an extended hymn about the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator and provider of all. You say the Quran speaks of the sun and moon and that God separated earth from heaven. God's reign is already present on our earth in mystery. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. The faithless disciple aims for both heaven and earth and gets neither. You would be scared out of your mind, but there is nothing more important or more desirable than going before God, Creator of heaven and earth. 2mass noun The substance of the land surface; soil. a layer of earth Example sentencesExamples Filling materials in an earth dam should be stable against seepage. Water movement through the bodies of earth dams can be studied using the Hele-Shaw models. Her hands were covered with rubber gloves, and they were soiled with earth. Harvest in dry weather, shaking off any loose earth, and leave on the surface of the soil in sun if possible for a few days. The loosened earth and weakened banks are more prone to collapsing then. These do not actually include a power which would have enabled the council to go upon the land of British Rail and remove the bank of earth. Trotsky asserted that, just as an earthquake revealed the layers of earth and rock beneath the surface, so a social upheaval would uncover the layers of society and its myriad forms. The weapons were concealed in a barrel, hidden in a bank of earth. Sunshine fell through the plastic windows of the hexagonal room and landed on containers of earth now devoid of the necessity for protection. A hole is either drilled or dug through the surface layers of earth until a water bearing layer is encountered. Veil desperately tried to leap out, but a big clod of earth landed on his head. In this case a motorcyclist was injured in a collision at a junction where visibility was restricted by a bank of earth on land owned by British Rail. Made of rammed earth - the soil excavated from the site - the wall alleviated the need to buy soil or use wood to fence the property. January's garden is one huddled below ground; its plants submerged beneath a thick layer of frozen earth, itself shrouded beneath a thick carpet of snow. When the flow slowed, the river would deposit its burden of silt, forming a new layer of earth. Cover the ground with cardboard or newspaper, followed by a thin layer of earth. We come to a bridge under construction, the solid grey concrete piles in stark contrast to the compacted red earth comprising the river banks. And the rear of the homes are banked up fully with earth, with grass right up across the roof. At the end of each day the rubbish deposits are covered in a layer of earth, and there are stringent measures to stop polluted water leaking into the ground. They say the trees and the bank of earth next to the railway line currently absorb noise from the trains, and the loss of these will lead to more noise and shaking when they pass. Under the layers of earth, something begins to move. We also used earth in the soil cement floor of the kitchen and one cottage. Synonyms soil, topsoil, loam, clay, silt, dirt, sod, clod, turf ground, terrain 2.1 One of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to the nature of the signs Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn) as modifier an earth sign Example sentencesExamples The one thing that is true, and which you have obviously understood, is that each of the sun signs belongs to a particular element - fire, earth, air or water. These tools represent the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water. Virgo is an earth sign, which is ruled by pragmatism and logic. But as the month passes, three of these four activating planets gradually shift into the more demure earth sign of Virgo. If I'm looking at the best time to plow my field, I want an earth sign rising. There are four elements - earth, air, fire and water, and three qualities - cardinal, fixed and mutable. Virgo has a mutable earth symbol, meaning that the ground is soft and moveable; the perfect type to grow plants in. It was a story he recognised could only be told in terms of the four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, water. An earth sign, they have a particular love of helping in the garden, and of long country walks - and they usually love the rain. There are also four elements: fire, earth, air and water; and four humors - choler or yellow bile, melancholer or black bile, blood and phlegm. It is true that they may not have the flair and excessive energy of their fellow Ariens, for the fire of their Sun sign is grounded by the Taurus earth provided in the Moon sign. As the cardinal earth sign Capricorn portrays the enduring and irrepressible spirit of nature. The presidents who fell prey to the curse all were elected in years when Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in an earth sign. Every part of the regimen was directed by the actions of the four cosmological elements - earth, air, fire, and water - and their correct balance within the body. Because melancholy has as its element earth - dull, heavy and common - it is often not afforded this consideration. These numbered cards represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water, and usually deal with specific issues and courses of action. Everything was made up of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, and their linked qualities of cold, wet, hot and dry. To our ancestors, the ancient elements of earth, air, fire and water had profound significance. Yet suspicion of other people's culinary rectitude, along with the practicality of an earth sign, helps make well-adjusted Virgoans splendid cooks. Being an earth sign, he is willing to focus on the long term and whatever he began nine years ago should now come to fruition. 2.2count noun Used in names of stable, dense, non-volatile inorganic substances, e.g. fuller's earth. these crayons are made with a mixture of native earths plus softeners such as China clay Example sentencesExamples By the usual convention, the element he obtained became known as cerium (all the earths had names ending in - ia, with the ending changed to - ium for the element). Around 3000 b.c., the Sumerians found that they could obtain copper from certain earths, or ores, by heating the earths with a source of carbon such as straw. Mix 1 part sodium citrate to 6 parts water and 6 parts glycerin and add enough whiting or fuller's earth to make a thick paste. The palette for fresco painting is traditionally restricted to earths, lime white, carbon black, ultramarine, and glass. I use a classic fullers earth, glycerine & washing-up liquid mixture, rubbed well into the line. A year later Charles Galissard de Marignac in Geneva found a further earth in this substance, which Lecoq isolated in 1886 and called gadolinium. Sparkling or still, it is purified ‘using naturally occurring ceramic earths, coconut and anthracite carbon to create a great house taste’. The use of gritty materials such as diatomaceous earth scattered on the soil surface is also used. Ancient and primitive tribes used these plants, often combined with different earths, to colour and decorate their faces and bodies. The soils that are then produced are known as acid brown earths, sols lessivés, or luvisols in the FAO - UNESCO classification. 2.3literary The substance of the human body. we now commit his body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust Example sentencesExamples You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us. The book is full of ghosts for whom the poet feels duty-bound to speak, and for the most part his theme is what the ghosts long for, the lovely body of earth. 3British mass noun Electrical connection to the ground, regarded as having zero electrical potential. ensure metal fittings are electrically bonded to earth North American term ground (sense 7 of the noun) Example sentencesExamples It is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted. The earth wire was then sleeved in Techflex braid and aquarium hose with some heatshrink added to secure the end. When electricity starts to arc from a wire to a metal surface this acts as an earth and causes a massive current flow which would normally blow any fuse. Older electrical systems in council flats don't have earth wires. It has exposed mains voltage solder points on top, no earth connection and one very flimsy and very dull aluminium end. 4The underground lair of a badger or fox. Example sentencesExamples Indeed The International Fund for Animal Welfare has frequently uncovered hunts around the country that use artificial earths and food trails to entice foxes on to their land. The night before the hunt, foxhunters cover up any earths and badger setts to make sure that the foxes have to run until exhausted. Some hunts even constructed artificial earths within their coverts to further encourage the fox population. They made a number of other estimates, like the number of cubs they believe were born on their farm, the number of breeding earths and other things, all of which were published. Foxhunters block up earths and badger setts the night before the hunt to ensure that foxes are forced to run until exhausted. I will also point out that foxes cannot pose a real danger to game or livestock because huntsmen in some counties build artificial earths to encourage foxes to live and breed there. Foxes, chased to exhaustion and death, are often dug out of their earths and feel great pain. Many hunts take steps the night before, or early on the day of the hunt, to block up the entrances to earths, badger setts and artificial places such as drains. Synonyms den, lair, sett, burrow, warren, tunnel, hole, cave retreat, shelter, hideout, hideaway, hiding place habitation informal hidey-hole verb əːθərθ [with object] 1British Connect (an electrical device) with the ground. the front metal panels must be soundly earthed Example sentencesExamples When the fencer is correctly earthed, all insulators and connections are correct and there is no vegetation growth on the wire. Using a computer in Antarctica, even inside the base, meant having to wear a wristband to earth oneself from ever-present static electricity shocks. They are not able to be earthed, filtered, or shielded electrically. Brown found that although pylons are earthed to make them safe, it is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted. It was only because the bottom of the sheet stuck in the ground and was earthed that James survived. The system is earthed by the screws into the metal box in the wall. Your machine is being earthed by the earth cable in the power cord. Having first checked that everything was earthed off, we went unplugging cables. The outer (armour-plated) plate is earthed while the insulated inner plate is live. As deck crew, don't touch the winchman or cable until he or it has been earthed - sparks could fly. When plugged in, the pump is earthed and I have a little more piece of mind! 2Hunting Drive (a fox) to its underground lair. 2.1no object (of a fox) run to its underground lair. 3earth something upCover the root and lower stem of a plant with heaped-up earth. the stems can be earthed up when the plant is about one foot high Example sentencesExamples I used the rest of my large bucketful on the potatoes in the dustbin to earth them up. The stems can be blanched by earthing them up, which makes the astringent flavour milder. Instead of earthing my potatoes up, I've been mulching some of them with excess swiss chard and lettuce plants I have been cutting down recently. You will, however, have to do some digging: once to plant the seed potatoes; once to earth them up to prevent the new tubers growing on the surface and becoming poisonously green; and once to lift the resultant crop. Phrases come (or bring someone) back (down) to earth Return (or cause someone to return) to reality after a period of daydreaming or excitement. a sharp knock at the door brought him back to earth Example sentencesExamples I am indescribably relieved that Ma has come back down to earth - it is now possible to have a conversation with her like a normal person. The only trouble with this form of mental escape is that sooner or later you must come back to earth, the jolt of this being pretty terrific. I've got such a buzz at the moment I don't know when I'll come back down to earth. The problem with holidays is coming back to earth afterwards. It's only after leaving the shop that you have to come back down to earth. Sarah said: ‘It has been an opportunity to relax and come to terms with what Sally and I have achieved before returning home and coming back down to earth.’ They've just come back after winning an Olympic gold medal so they are going to be on a high, but they have also got to come back down to earth. It's been a really hectic few days, and I'm only now beginning to come back down to earth. This is by far the best prize we have ever won and I think it will take quite a while to come back down to earth. I get really lost in a piece of work and come back to earth with a bump when I have to stop. Synonyms compose oneself, recover one's composure, regain one's composure, control oneself, recover one's self-control, regain one's self-control, pull oneself together, keep one's head, simmer down, cool down, cool off, take it easy the earth A very large amount. her hat cost the earth Example sentencesExamples Why are we too scared to ask for high standards on a job that's costing us the earth? He stressed it didn't have to cost the earth to cook fresh locally grown produced. Yet he has a mortgage, a young family, and does not want to pay the earth for it. We have a council that promises the earth but provides road calming and roundabouts. the earth moved (or did the earth move for you?) humorous One had (or did you have?) an orgasm. Example sentencesExamples Of those, a bare majority of 55% admitted that the earth moved for them. It's been a while since the earth moved for dear old John, bless him. go to earth 1(of a hunted animal) hide in an underground burrow. the fox would go to earth and stay there till dark Example sentencesExamples I saw it go to earth as I got between two buildings on Foss Islands Road. After a two hour chase it finally went to earth but a trap was set and the fox captured the next day and bagged so ‘it will again afford another day's sport’. Synonyms hide, go into hiding, hide out, find a hiding place, conceal oneself, keep out of sight, keep a low profile, take cover, go to earth, go to ground, go underground, cover one's tracks, lurk, skulk 1.1Go into hiding. he'd gone to earth after that meeting Example sentencesExamples She had gone to earth in the pit opened by the torn-up roots of a fallen tree, and sprang out at his approach. An anti-hunting MP was forced to go to earth in the face of a noisy protest at one of his routine constituency surgeries by angry Yorkshire hunt supporters. Intelligence forces have complained that several high-profile suspects they'd been keeping an eye on have gone to earth and now can't be found. like nothing on earth informal Very strange. they looked like nothing on earth Example sentencesExamples He was quiet as a lamb and as clever as a thoroughbred, but he looked like nothing on earth, so we lost him. After a sunny morning it smells like nothing on earth - it keeps rubber-neckers away but attracts every dog for miles around! What turned up was quite a surprise. It looked like black pudding but tasted like nothing on earth. There was a sound like nothing on earth: groups of male capuchin birds attract females with sounds like the whine of some outer-space cicada insect crossed with a sick cow. The noise would be like nothing on earth - certainly nothing in Bellagio. Synonyms weird, eccentric, odd, peculiar, funny, bizarre, unusual, abnormal on earth Used for emphasis, especially in questions and negative statements. who on earth would venture out in weather like this? Example sentencesExamples So my question is, how on earth do you keep tabs on all of the available programming? You may wonder what on earth has prompted me to ask such a question, so let me explain. I am curious to find out what on earth possessed him to do this and why a lime? After all, who on earth is interested in reading about our inability to cope? Why on earth would I want to go near the things which filled me with so much fear? The question that remains to baffle us is why on earth it took so long for anything to be done. How on earth are the sport stars of the future ever going to get that edge over the competition. How on earth do you manage so many top class horses and find dates and races for them all? Why on earth do they bother selling them to anyone when it's clear no librarians want to read them? So why on earth does he want to make yet another death-defying walk in the Grand Canyon? Synonyms at all, in any way, on earth Origin Old English eorthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aarde and German Erde. It is impossible to tell which meaning of earth came first in English: the senses ‘the ground’, ‘our planet’, and ‘soil’ are all found in Old English. Related words in other languages are German Erde and Dutch aarde, as in aardvark. Earth meaning ‘the underground lair of a badger or fox’ dates from the late Middle Ages. ‘The earth’ has been used in idioms like pay the earth, cost the earth and expect the earth since the 1920s. Many of the earliest examples are by the comic novelist P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975)—he probably did not invent them, but spotted new slang expressions of the day. We think of earthling as being a term from science fiction, but it actually goes back at least as far as 1593: ‘We (of all earthlings) are God's utmost subjects’ (Thomas Nashe, Christ's Tears). Rhymes berth, birth, dearth, firth, girth, mirth, Perth, worth noun.1 phr. Definition of earth in US English: earth nounərTHərθ 1The planet on which we live; the world. The earth is the third planet from the sun in the solar system, orbiting between Venus and Mars at an average distance of 90 million miles (149.6 million km) from the sun, and has one natural satellite, the moon. It has an equatorial diameter of 7,654 miles (12,756 km), an average density 5.5 times that of water, and is believed to have formed about 4,600 million years ago. The earth, which is three-quarters covered by oceans and has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, is the only planet known to support life the diversity of life on earth Example sentencesExamples So most of the fuel that a rocket takes on board is needed simply to escape the Earth's gravity. Imagine a perturbation of the Earth's orbit big enough to change the size of the sun in the sky. The dust would then scatter some of the sun's rays back into space, cooling off the Earth. The discovery suggests that life could exist on planets very different from Earth. Such a machine would break the bounds of the Earth's gravity and shoot off into space. This is because Venus and the Earth orbit the Sun at a slight angle to each other. It seems that several of the earlier philosophers had concluded that the Earth is a globe. At the side of the Earth nearest the Moon the oceans bulge upwards due to its pull. Galileo used parallax arguments to prove that the New Star could not be close to the Earth. In fact, the earthquake was so powerful that the Earth may have even wobbled on its axis. The reason why these huts are here is because we wish to find a way of living that does not cause damage to the Earth. Neither the Earth nor the Moon is a perfect sphere so they do not behave as a point mass. He believed that the apparent rotation of the heavens was due to the axial rotation of the Earth. I realized then that the Earth is just a giant rock orbiting around the sun in this empty space. Mercury is also the only planet other than Earth that has a global magnetic field. The first chapter deals with the shape and place of the Earth within a spherical universe. This makes our very late appearance in the history of the Earth a sensible outcome. The course of life on planet Earth might even turn out to be described by such a picture. The purpose of this project was to help settle the question regarding the shape of the Earth. We are admonishing those leaders around the world who would invoke war upon the Earth. Synonyms world, globe, planet, sphere, orb 1.1 The surface of the world as distinct from the sky or the sea. it plummeted back to earth at 60 mph Example sentencesExamples As I watched them float to earth, I thought of the risks I've taken. The earth plummeted into what appeared to be a succession of bottomless valleys, first on our left, then our right, as we meandered ever upwards. As the fat, large drops fell from the heavens and hit the parched earth, the land that had once been in a drought rejoiced, and the angels were glad. The fog, a misty white at the very base of the mountain, where trees still grew, gave way to earth and, as earth gave way to sky, sky gave way to storm clouds. Lightning striking earth is the result of a stormy sky - which electrifies clouds with many million volts. I am 100 percent certain man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time. The words Mystra had written seemed to sink through the paper and into the very earth itself, like raindrops to a thirsty plant. Vertical windows allow an appreciation of the connection between earth and sky. Synonyms land, ground, dry land, solid ground, terra firma 1.2 The present abode of humankind, as distinct from heaven or hell. God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven Example sentencesExamples He presents earth and heaven, flesh and spirit, as both opposite and parallel; they are counterparts that engender each other by turns. The emphasis that there are heaven and earth founds a distinction between the accessible earth and a transcendent realm that is yet part of the creation. God of heaven and earth, Maker of humankind, I cry to you! And then at long last creation's groans and ours shall end and heaven and earth shall be one. Has any other event been powerful enough to rip the veil that separated heaven from earth and reveal a new and living way to the Father? You would be scared out of your mind, but there is nothing more important or more desirable than going before God, Creator of heaven and earth. You say the Quran speaks of the sun and moon and that God separated earth from heaven. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Holy God of heaven and earth, we are humbled by your divine majesty, and cast about for the best words to honor you. As the stones at the site indicate, this is a sacred place, a place of communion between heaven and earth, and through his dream Jacob recognizes its powers. Never leaving his side, we will gather and store up all of the holy and loving thoughts inspired by the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth. God's reign is already present on our earth in mystery. All that occurs in earth and heaven or in past, present, and future is under the Creator's rule. You may literally be in league with the powers of hell, ruin your life upon earth and miss heaven! Psalm 104 is an extended hymn about the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator and provider of all. Together, heaven and earth offer one hymn, one prayer, one feast, and one doxology. The faithless disciple aims for both heaven and earth and gets neither. A new heaven and a new earth will replace the world as we know it today. Placed in that high position between heaven and earth, the priest is like Moses in battle: he requires people to hold up his arms. Helmont saw the cosmos as a living, spiritual organism with no rupture between heaven and earth. 2The substance of the land surface; soil. a layer of earth Example sentencesExamples January's garden is one huddled below ground; its plants submerged beneath a thick layer of frozen earth, itself shrouded beneath a thick carpet of snow. Water movement through the bodies of earth dams can be studied using the Hele-Shaw models. We come to a bridge under construction, the solid grey concrete piles in stark contrast to the compacted red earth comprising the river banks. Harvest in dry weather, shaking off any loose earth, and leave on the surface of the soil in sun if possible for a few days. Trotsky asserted that, just as an earthquake revealed the layers of earth and rock beneath the surface, so a social upheaval would uncover the layers of society and its myriad forms. When the flow slowed, the river would deposit its burden of silt, forming a new layer of earth. Cover the ground with cardboard or newspaper, followed by a thin layer of earth. Made of rammed earth - the soil excavated from the site - the wall alleviated the need to buy soil or use wood to fence the property. Sunshine fell through the plastic windows of the hexagonal room and landed on containers of earth now devoid of the necessity for protection. At the end of each day the rubbish deposits are covered in a layer of earth, and there are stringent measures to stop polluted water leaking into the ground. Filling materials in an earth dam should be stable against seepage. And the rear of the homes are banked up fully with earth, with grass right up across the roof. Under the layers of earth, something begins to move. Her hands were covered with rubber gloves, and they were soiled with earth. These do not actually include a power which would have enabled the council to go upon the land of British Rail and remove the bank of earth. The weapons were concealed in a barrel, hidden in a bank of earth. The loosened earth and weakened banks are more prone to collapsing then. They say the trees and the bank of earth next to the railway line currently absorb noise from the trains, and the loss of these will lead to more noise and shaking when they pass. In this case a motorcyclist was injured in a collision at a junction where visibility was restricted by a bank of earth on land owned by British Rail. Veil desperately tried to leap out, but a big clod of earth landed on his head. A hole is either drilled or dug through the surface layers of earth until a water bearing layer is encountered. We also used earth in the soil cement floor of the kitchen and one cottage. Synonyms soil, topsoil, loam, clay, silt, dirt, sod, clod, turf 2.1 One of the four elements in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology (considered essential to certain signs of the zodiac). Example sentencesExamples There are also four elements: fire, earth, air and water; and four humors - choler or yellow bile, melancholer or black bile, blood and phlegm. Virgo is an earth sign, which is ruled by pragmatism and logic. An earth sign, they have a particular love of helping in the garden, and of long country walks - and they usually love the rain. Everything was made up of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, and their linked qualities of cold, wet, hot and dry. The one thing that is true, and which you have obviously understood, is that each of the sun signs belongs to a particular element - fire, earth, air or water. To our ancestors, the ancient elements of earth, air, fire and water had profound significance. There are four elements - earth, air, fire and water, and three qualities - cardinal, fixed and mutable. These tools represent the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water. But as the month passes, three of these four activating planets gradually shift into the more demure earth sign of Virgo. It is true that they may not have the flair and excessive energy of their fellow Ariens, for the fire of their Sun sign is grounded by the Taurus earth provided in the Moon sign. If I'm looking at the best time to plow my field, I want an earth sign rising. Yet suspicion of other people's culinary rectitude, along with the practicality of an earth sign, helps make well-adjusted Virgoans splendid cooks. Being an earth sign, he is willing to focus on the long term and whatever he began nine years ago should now come to fruition. These numbered cards represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water, and usually deal with specific issues and courses of action. Virgo has a mutable earth symbol, meaning that the ground is soft and moveable; the perfect type to grow plants in. It was a story he recognised could only be told in terms of the four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire, water. Because melancholy has as its element earth - dull, heavy and common - it is often not afforded this consideration. The presidents who fell prey to the curse all were elected in years when Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in an earth sign. As the cardinal earth sign Capricorn portrays the enduring and irrepressible spirit of nature. Every part of the regimen was directed by the actions of the four cosmological elements - earth, air, fire, and water - and their correct balance within the body. 2.2 Used in names of stable, dense, nonvolatile inorganic substances, e.g. fuller's earth. Example sentencesExamples The soils that are then produced are known as acid brown earths, sols lessivés, or luvisols in the FAO - UNESCO classification. By the usual convention, the element he obtained became known as cerium (all the earths had names ending in - ia, with the ending changed to - ium for the element). The use of gritty materials such as diatomaceous earth scattered on the soil surface is also used. Mix 1 part sodium citrate to 6 parts water and 6 parts glycerin and add enough whiting or fuller's earth to make a thick paste. A year later Charles Galissard de Marignac in Geneva found a further earth in this substance, which Lecoq isolated in 1886 and called gadolinium. Sparkling or still, it is purified ‘using naturally occurring ceramic earths, coconut and anthracite carbon to create a great house taste’. Around 3000 b.c., the Sumerians found that they could obtain copper from certain earths, or ores, by heating the earths with a source of carbon such as straw. I use a classic fullers earth, glycerine & washing-up liquid mixture, rubbed well into the line. The palette for fresco painting is traditionally restricted to earths, lime white, carbon black, ultramarine, and glass. Ancient and primitive tribes used these plants, often combined with different earths, to colour and decorate their faces and bodies. 2.3literary The substance of the human body. Example sentencesExamples You entrust to the earth our bodies of earth which you fashioned with your own hands and you restore again what you have given, transforming with incorruptibility and grace what is mortal and deformed in us. The book is full of ghosts for whom the poet feels duty-bound to speak, and for the most part his theme is what the ghosts long for, the lovely body of earth. 3British Electrical connection to the earth, regarded as having zero electrical potential; ground. Example sentencesExamples It has exposed mains voltage solder points on top, no earth connection and one very flimsy and very dull aluminium end. When electricity starts to arc from a wire to a metal surface this acts as an earth and causes a massive current flow which would normally blow any fuse. The earth wire was then sleeved in Techflex braid and aquarium hose with some heatshrink added to secure the end. Older electrical systems in council flats don't have earth wires. It is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted. 4The underground lair or habitation of a badger or fox. Example sentencesExamples They made a number of other estimates, like the number of cubs they believe were born on their farm, the number of breeding earths and other things, all of which were published. Some hunts even constructed artificial earths within their coverts to further encourage the fox population. Foxhunters block up earths and badger setts the night before the hunt to ensure that foxes are forced to run until exhausted. The night before the hunt, foxhunters cover up any earths and badger setts to make sure that the foxes have to run until exhausted. I will also point out that foxes cannot pose a real danger to game or livestock because huntsmen in some counties build artificial earths to encourage foxes to live and breed there. Foxes, chased to exhaustion and death, are often dug out of their earths and feel great pain. Many hunts take steps the night before, or early on the day of the hunt, to block up the entrances to earths, badger setts and artificial places such as drains. Indeed The International Fund for Animal Welfare has frequently uncovered hunts around the country that use artificial earths and food trails to entice foxes on to their land. Synonyms den, lair, sett, burrow, warren, tunnel, hole, cave verbərTHərθ [with object] 1earth something upCover the root and lower stem of a plant with heaped-up earth. Example sentencesExamples The stems can be blanched by earthing them up, which makes the astringent flavour milder. I used the rest of my large bucketful on the potatoes in the dustbin to earth them up. Instead of earthing my potatoes up, I've been mulching some of them with excess swiss chard and lettuce plants I have been cutting down recently. You will, however, have to do some digging: once to plant the seed potatoes; once to earth them up to prevent the new tubers growing on the surface and becoming poisonously green; and once to lift the resultant crop. 2Hunting Drive (a fox) to its underground lair. 2.1no object (of a fox) run to its underground lair. 3British Connect (an electrical device) with the ground. Example sentencesExamples The outer (armour-plated) plate is earthed while the insulated inner plate is live. They are not able to be earthed, filtered, or shielded electrically. When the fencer is correctly earthed, all insulators and connections are correct and there is no vegetation growth on the wire. When plugged in, the pump is earthed and I have a little more piece of mind! Having first checked that everything was earthed off, we went unplugging cables. Your machine is being earthed by the earth cable in the power cord. Brown found that although pylons are earthed to make them safe, it is possible to stop a radio signal leaking into the ground via its earth cable by carefully choosing the height at which the antenna is mounted. As deck crew, don't touch the winchman or cable until he or it has been earthed - sparks could fly. Using a computer in Antarctica, even inside the base, meant having to wear a wristband to earth oneself from ever-present static electricity shocks. The system is earthed by the screws into the metal box in the wall. It was only because the bottom of the sheet stuck in the ground and was earthed that James survived. Phrases come (or bring someone) back (down) to earth Return (or cause someone to return) to reality after a period of daydreaming or excitement. Example sentencesExamples I've got such a buzz at the moment I don't know when I'll come back down to earth. I am indescribably relieved that Ma has come back down to earth - it is now possible to have a conversation with her like a normal person. The only trouble with this form of mental escape is that sooner or later you must come back to earth, the jolt of this being pretty terrific. Sarah said: ‘It has been an opportunity to relax and come to terms with what Sally and I have achieved before returning home and coming back down to earth.’ I get really lost in a piece of work and come back to earth with a bump when I have to stop. This is by far the best prize we have ever won and I think it will take quite a while to come back down to earth. It's been a really hectic few days, and I'm only now beginning to come back down to earth. The problem with holidays is coming back to earth afterwards. It's only after leaving the shop that you have to come back down to earth. They've just come back after winning an Olympic gold medal so they are going to be on a high, but they have also got to come back down to earth. Synonyms compose oneself, recover one's composure, regain one's composure, control oneself, recover one's self-control, regain one's self-control, pull oneself together, keep one's head, simmer down, cool down, cool off, take it easy the earth moved (or did the earth move for you?) humorous One had (or did you have?) an orgasm. Example sentencesExamples It's been a while since the earth moved for dear old John, bless him. Of those, a bare majority of 55% admitted that the earth moved for them. go to earth 1(of a hunted animal) hide in an underground burrow. Example sentencesExamples After a two hour chase it finally went to earth but a trap was set and the fox captured the next day and bagged so ‘it will again afford another day's sport’. I saw it go to earth as I got between two buildings on Foss Islands Road. Synonyms hide, go into hiding, hide out, find a hiding place, conceal oneself, keep out of sight, keep a low profile, take cover, go to earth, go to ground, go underground, cover one's tracks, lurk, skulk 1.1Go into hiding. he'd gone to earth after that meeting Example sentencesExamples An anti-hunting MP was forced to go to earth in the face of a noisy protest at one of his routine constituency surgeries by angry Yorkshire hunt supporters. Intelligence forces have complained that several high-profile suspects they'd been keeping an eye on have gone to earth and now can't be found. She had gone to earth in the pit opened by the torn-up roots of a fallen tree, and sprang out at his approach. like nothing on earth informal Very strange. they looked like nothing on earth Example sentencesExamples There was a sound like nothing on earth: groups of male capuchin birds attract females with sounds like the whine of some outer-space cicada insect crossed with a sick cow. What turned up was quite a surprise. It looked like black pudding but tasted like nothing on earth. He was quiet as a lamb and as clever as a thoroughbred, but he looked like nothing on earth, so we lost him. After a sunny morning it smells like nothing on earth - it keeps rubber-neckers away but attracts every dog for miles around! The noise would be like nothing on earth - certainly nothing in Bellagio. Synonyms weird, eccentric, odd, peculiar, funny, bizarre, unusual, abnormal on earth Used for emphasis. who on earth would venture out in weather like this? Example sentencesExamples Why on earth would I want to go near the things which filled me with so much fear? So my question is, how on earth do you keep tabs on all of the available programming? How on earth are the sport stars of the future ever going to get that edge over the competition. Why on earth do they bother selling them to anyone when it's clear no librarians want to read them? You may wonder what on earth has prompted me to ask such a question, so let me explain. After all, who on earth is interested in reading about our inability to cope? So why on earth does he want to make yet another death-defying walk in the Grand Canyon? How on earth do you manage so many top class horses and find dates and races for them all? I am curious to find out what on earth possessed him to do this and why a lime? The question that remains to baffle us is why on earth it took so long for anything to be done. Synonyms at all, in any way, on earth Origin Old English eorthe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch aarde and German Erde. noun.1 phr.
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