ground
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡɹaʊnd/
ipa: /ɡɹʊnd/
rhymes: -aʊnd
Forms: form: grounds
form: GND
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem-der.
Proto-Germanic *grunduz
Old English grund
Middle English ground
English ground
From Middle English ground, from Old English grund, from Proto-West Germanic *grundu, from Proto-Germanic *grunduz. Cognate with West Frisian grûn, Dutch grond and German Grund.
Senses: examples: text: Look, I found a ten dollar bill on the ground!
text: If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
ref: 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
text: From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts.
ref: 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
glosses: The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground.
examples: text: As the terrain-following radar scans the ground ahead of the aircraft the actual clearance height is measured by the radio altimeter.
ref: 1971, “The development of terrain following radar: an account of the progress made with an airborne guidance system for low flying military aircraft”, in Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology:
glosses: Terrain.
examples: text: The worm crawls through the ground.
glosses: Soil, earth.
glosses: The bottom of a body of water.
examples: text: Wyth cry unreverent,
Before the sacrament,
Wythin the holy church bowndis,
That of our fayth the grownd is.
ref: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 11–14:
text: [B]e the consequences what they may, they shall not move an inch, nor a hair's-breadth from the ground of their groundless spiritual independence, […]
ref: 1840, Lewis Rose, chapter III, in An Humble Attempt to Put an End to the Present Divisions in the Church of Scotland, and to Promote Her Usefulness. […] , Glasgow: George Gallie, →OCLC, page 51:
glosses: Basis, foundation, groundwork, legwork.
examples: text: You will need to show good grounds for your action.
text: He could not come on grounds of health, or on health grounds.
glosses: Reason, (epistemic) justification, cause.
glosses: Background, context, framework, surroundings.
glosses: The area on which a battle is fought, particularly as referring to the area occupied by one side or the other. Often, according to the eventualities, "to give ground" or "to gain ground".
glosses: Advantage given or gained in any contest; e.g. in football, chess, debate or academic discourse.
examples: text: a forest traditionally used as a hunting-ground
text: I gather from your last answer that at the present time the constabulary, to a certain extent, is good recruiting ground for the army?
ref: 1876, Parliamentary Papers, volume 14, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, page 147:
glosses: A place suited to a specified activity.
examples: text: crimson flowers on a white ground
text: […] to pad a piece in diluted acetate of alumine to obtain a pale lemon ground […]
ref: 1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia:
text: One and All is the motto of the County of Cornwall, used below the coat-of-arms, which is a shield embracing fifteen bezants, or golden roundels, on a black ground; [...].
ref: 1941 December, “The Why and the Wherefore: Cornish names of G.W.R. locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 575:
glosses: The plain surface upon which the figures of an artistic composition are set.
qualifier: sculpture
glosses: A flat surface upon which figures are raised in relief.
examples: Brussels ground
qualifier: point lace
glosses: The net of small meshes upon which the embroidered pattern is applied.
qualifier: etching
glosses: A gummy substance spread over the surface of a metal to be etched, to prevent the acid from eating except where an opening is made by the needle.
examples: text: Grounds are usually put up first and the plastering floated flush with them.
topics: architecture
glosses: One of the pieces of wood, flush with the plastering, to which mouldings etc. are attached.
examples: text: Manchester United's ground is known as Old Trafford.
glosses: A soccer stadium.
examples: text: А ground may be undesirable, inadvertent, or accidental path taken by an electrical current; or it may be the deliberate provision of conductors well connected to the ground by means of plates buried therein, or similar device.
ref: 1961, “GROUND”, in The International Dictionary of Physics and Electronics, 2nd edition, Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand, page 539:
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: An electrical conductor connected to the earth, or a large conductor whose electrical potential is taken as zero (such as a steel chassis).
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Electric shock.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The area of grass on which a match is played (a cricket field); the entire arena in which it is played; the part of the field behind a batsman's popping crease where he can not be run out (hence to make one's ground).
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A composition in which the bass, consisting of a few bars of independent notes, is continually repeated to a varying melody.
examples: text: Buck[ingham] The Mayor is here at hand; pretend ſome fear, // Be not you ſpoke with, but by mighty ſuit; // And look you get a prayer-book in your hand, // And ſtand between two churchmen, good my lord, // For on that ground I’ll build a holy deſcant: // And be not eaſily won to our requeſts: // Play the maid’s part, ſtill anſwer nay, and take it.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: The tune on which descants are raised; the plain song.
examples: text: the understanding gentlemen o' the ground here ask'd my judgment
ref: 1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
glosses: The pit of a theatre.
examples: text: It is sub-divided into annas (or 16ths), of 3,600 square feet each; or when the land is for building purposes, into grounds (munnies) of 1/24 of a cawny each, as in the town of Madras.
ref: 1885, Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, page 515:
glosses: Synonym of munny (“land measure”).
synonyms: word: munny
extra: land measure
Synonyms: topics: electricity
electrical-engineering
electromagnetism
energy
business
physics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
engineering
word: earth
Hyponyms: break ground
breeding ground
burial ground
campground
camping ground
common ground
cricket ground
cumber ground
fairground
gain ground
give ground
high ground
home ground
lose ground
middle ground
moral high ground
neutral ground
parade ground
picnic ground
pleasure ground
proving ground
school ground
shooting ground
showground
singing ground
solid ground
sports ground
stamping ground
stomping ground
teeing ground
testing ground
training ground
vantage ground
Derived terms: word: above ground
word: aboveground
word: above-ground
word: absorbent ground
word: aground
word: air-to-ground
word: archery ground
word: background
word: barren-ground caribou
word: Battle Ground
word: battleground
word: battle ground
word: bedground
word: belowground
word: best on ground
word: bootleg ground
word: boots on the ground
word: bora ground
word: break new ground
word: Brehm's ground parrot
word: bring to ground
word: Brussels ground
word: Brussels wire ground
word: burying ground
word: byground
word: centerground
word: centreground
word: cover ground
word: cumberground
word: cumber-ground
word: cumber ground
word: cut the ground from under someone's feet
word: dead ground
word: drill ground
word: drive into the ground
word: drive something into the ground
word: dumping ground
word: ear to the ground
word: eyeground
word: eyes on the ground
word: facts on the ground
word: fall on stony ground
word: fall to the ground
word: feet on the ground
word: figure and ground
word: fireground
word: fishing ground
word: floating ground
word: foreground
word: the ground up
word: gain-ground
word: get off the ground
word: gill-go-by-the-ground
word: gill-over-the-ground
word: go to ground
word: ground agama
word: groundage
word: ground and pound
word: ground angling
word: ground babbler
word: ground bailiff
word: groundbait
word: ground ball
word: ground bar
word: ground bass
word: ground beetle
word: ground berry
word: ground blizzard
word: groundbreaker
word: ground breaker
word: groundbreaking
word: ground-breaking
word: groundburst
word: ground cable
word: ground cedar
word: groundcherry
word: ground cherry
word: ground-chestnut
word: ground clearance
word: groundcloth
word: ground cloth
word: ground clutter
word: ground control
word: ground control point
word: ground cover
word: ground crew
word: groundcrew
word: ground cruncher
word: ground cuckoo
taxonomic: Santolina chamaecyparissus
word: ground cypress
word: ground dove
word: ground effect
word: ground elder
word: grounder
word: ground failure
word: ground fault
word: ground finch
word: ground fir
word: groundfire
word: ground fire
word: ground fish
word: groundfish
word: ground floor
word: ground-floor
word: ground fog
word: ground food
word: ground forces
word: ground frame
word: ground frost
word: ground game
word: ground-glass
word: ground handling
word: ground hemlock
word: ground hog
word: groundhog
word: ground-hog
word: groundhopper
word: groundhopping
word: ground hornbill
word: ground ice
word: ground itch
word: ground ivy
word: ground-ivy
word: ground lamella
word: ground laurel
word: groundlaying
word: groundless
word: ground level
word: groundline
word: groundling
word: ground loop
word: groundlubber
word: groundly
word: ground-man
word: ground man
word: groundmass
word: ground meristem
word: groundmist
word: ground mist
word: ground-mist
word: ground moraine
word: ground noise
word: groundnut
word: ground out
word: ground pangolin
word: ground pea
word: ground pear
word: groundpecker
word: ground pine
word: groundplan
word: ground plane
word: ground plan
word: ground-plan
word: ground plate
word: ground plum
word: ground pounder
word: ground power
word: ground provisions
word: ground proximity warning system
word: ground rattlesnake
word: ground rent
word: ground robin
word: ground roller
word: ground row
word: groundrow
word: ground rule
word: ground-rule
word: ground score
word: groundscraper
word: groundsel
word: ground sense
word: ground set
word: ground-shaker
word: groundshare
word: ground shark
word: groundsheet
word: groundside
word: ground signal
word: groundsill
word: ground sloth
word: groundsman
word: ground snake
word: ground speed
word: groundspeed
word: ground spider
word: ground squirrel
word: groundstaff
word: ground staff
word: ground state
word: ground station
word: groundstone
word: ground stop
word: groundstroke
word: ground-stroke
word: ground stroke
word: ground substance
word: ground swell
word: groundswell
word: ground tackle
word: ground tissue
word: ground-to-air
word: ground-to-ground
word: ground-to-ship
word: ground troops
word: ground truth
word: ground truthing
word: ground tyrant
word: groundwall
word: ground wallah
word: groundward
word: groundwards
word: groundwater
word: ground water
word: ground wave
word: groundwave
word: ground wire
word: groundwood
word: groundworker
word: ground-work
word: groundwork
word: groundworm
word: groundy
word: ground-zero
word: ground zero
word: happy hunting ground
word: hardground
word: hit the ground running
word: hold one's ground
word: honeycomb ground
word: hunting ground
word: in the ground
word: kiss the ground someone walks on
word: know one's ass from a hole in the ground
word: know one's head from a hole in the ground
word: know someone from a hole in the ground
word: know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground
word: level to the ground
word: lost ground
word: make ground
word: microground
word: middle-ground
word: midground
word: moral low ground
word: native ground
word: nesting ground
word: nonground
word: nuisance ground
word: off the ground
word: on familiar ground
word: on one's own ground
word: on shaky ground
word: on solid ground
word: on the ground
word: open ground
word: out ground
word: outground
word: overground
word: Overground
word: playground
word: prepare the ground
word: put facts on the ground
word: put in the ground
word: recreation ground
word: rooted to the ground
word: ruddy ground dove
word: rufous-vented ground-cuckoo
word: run into the ground
word: run to ground
word: run to the ground
word: Saint Croix ground lizard
word: sandgrounder
word: schoolground
word: sea-ground
word: shift ground
word: shift one's ground
word: ship-to-ground
word: Skinner's ground mantis
word: soften the ground
word: soften up the ground
word: spawning ground
word: sportsground
word: standing ground
word: stand one's ground
word: stand-your-ground law
word: suit down to the ground
word: tactile ground surface indicator
word: tenterground
word: thick on the ground
word: thin on the ground
word: Tom Tidler's ground
word: Tommy Tiddler's ground
word: underground
word: Underground
word: urgrund
word: wasteground
word: work into the ground
word: worship the ground someone walks on
english: ground
translation: ground
urls: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Category:English+lemmas&from=ground#mw-pages
word: English terms starting with
Related terms: floor
terra firma