Earth sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Earth sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1897, rev. 2025. Earth sb.1 Forms: α. 1–4 eorðe, 1– Northumb. eorðu, eorðe, 2 horðe, 3–6 erð(e, 4–5 irthe, urth(e, 4–6 yerth(e, herthe, 5 ȝerþ, yorth, 6 earthe, yearth(e, (erith), 8–9 Sc. yirth, 9 Sc. and dial. yearth, orth, 6– earth. β. 3–5 erd(e, 6 eard, eird, 8 yird, 9 Sc. and north. dial. yird, yeird, eard. [Common Teut.: OE. eorþe, wk. fem., corresponds to OS. ertha wk. fem. (MDu. aerde, erde, Du. aarde), OHG. erda str. and wk. fem. (MHG., mod.G. erde), ON. iǫrð (Sw., Da. jord), Goth. airþa str. fem.:—OTeut. *erþâ, (? WGer.) erþôn-; without the dental suffix the word appears in OHG. ero earth, Gr. ἔρα-ζε on the ground; no other non-Teutonic cognates are known to exist, the plausible connection with WAryan root *ar, to plow, being open to serious objection.

1   With the northern and Sc. forms with -d cf. ME. dede for death; the change of -þ into -d is rare at the end of a word, though in medial positions it is frequent in Sc. The northern forms of the present word were in the early ME. period graphically coincident with those of ERD, and in some phrases the two words seem to have been confused.]

2   (Men’s notions of the shape and position of the earth have so greatly changed since Old Teutonic times, while the language of the older notions has long outlived them, that it is very difficult to arrange the senses and applications of the word in any historical order. The following arrangement does not pretend to follow the development of ideas.]

3   I.  The ground.

4   1.  Considered as a mere surface. † To win earth on: to gain ground upon; to lose earth: to lose ground.

5 Beowulf, 1533. Wearp ða wunden mæl … þæt hit on eorðan læʓ stið and stylecʓ.

6 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., in Sweet, Ags. Reader (ed. 5), 85. Iohannes … astrehte his lichoman to eorðan on langsummum gebede.

7 c. 1200.  Ormin, 8073. Forr he [Herod] warrþ seoc, and he bigann To rotenn bufenn eorþe.

8 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13860. Þey wyþ-drowen hem, & erþe þey les.

9 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IV. 284. The Kyng … Wes laid at erd.

10 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6817. Sum [he] hurlit to þe hard yerth.

11 c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 657. Twenty fote he garde hyme goo, Thus erthe on hym he wane.

12 1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., V. i. 199. They kneele, they kisse the Earth.

13 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 192. Let your Gardiner endeavour to apply the Collateral Branches of his Wall-Fruits … to the Earth or Borders.

14 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, V. 486. Part roll’d on the earth and rose again.

15   2.  Considered as a solid stratum.

16 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4699. Þe erth it clang, for drught and hete. Ibid. (c. 1340), (Fairf.), 16784. The day was derker then the night Þe erthe quoke with-alle.

17 1562.  Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, 57 a. The people … are constrained to inhabite in Caves, under the yearth.

18 1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 8 b. Of Gemmes, some are found in the earthes vaines, & are digged vp with Metalles.

19 1791.  Cowper, Iliad, III. 334. Who under earth on human kind avenge Severe, the guilt of violated oaths.

20 [1865.  Frost & Fire, II. 182. Them is what we call marble stones; they grow in the yearth.]

21   † 3.  Considered as a place of burial; esp. in phrase To bring (a person) to (the) earth. Obs.

22 c. 1205.  Lay., 4283. To gadere come his eorles & brohten hime to eorðe.

23 c. 1305.  Edm. the Conf., 594, in E. P. P. (1862), 86. Ded he com iwis & þer he was ibroȝt an vrþe.

24 1387.  E. E. Wills (1882), 2. Y be-quethe iii.li to bringe me on erthe.

25 1541.  Bury Wills (1850), 261. [William Clovyer, of Chelsworth, charged his wife] to brynge me vnto the herthe honestly accordynge to my value. Ibid., 141. I commytt my body to be buryed in the churche erthe.

26 1590.  Marlowe, Edw. II., V. i. (1594), I 4 b. And euery earth is fit for buriall.

27   4.  The hole or hiding-place of a burrowing animal, as a badger, fox, etc. Also fig.

28 1575.  Turberv., Bk. Venerie, 187. If you … put the Terryer into an earth where foxes be or Badgerdes, they will leave that earth.

29 1611.  Cotgr., Accul,… the bottome … of a foxes, or badgers earth.

30 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), I. 182. For never frighted Hare fled to Cover, or Fox to Earth, with more Terror of Mind than I to this Retreat.

31 1781.  P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 332. I recommend to you, to turn them into large covers and strong earths.

32 1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, I. 311. I am ready to take you to any place of safety you can name…. But you cannot persuade me that you do not know what earth to make for.

33 1845.  Darwin, Voy. Nat., vi. (1876), 113. They were generally near their earths, but the dogs killed one.

34 1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 253. And onward to the fortress rode the three … ‘So,’ thought Geraint, ‘I have track’d him to his earth.’

35   5.  The soil as suited for cultivation; sometimes with a defining word denoting the nature or quality of the soil.

36 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xiii. 7. Hrendas forðon ða ilca to huon uutedlice eorðo ʓi-onetað.

37 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 155. Sum ful on þe gode eorðe and þat com wel forð.

38 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 27268 (Fairf.). Tilmen … better þaire awen erþ tilis.

39 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 141. Erye, or erthe [erde K], terra, humus, tellus.

40 c. 1420.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 81. The bitterest erthe & werst that thou canst thinke.

41 1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 13. To plowe his barley-erthe.

42 1557.  Lanc. Wills (1854), I. 143. On close lyeinge nerest unto James Bailies called the merled earthe.

43 1617.  Markham, Caval., III. 29. When you finde the chase to runne ouer any faire earth, as either ouer More, Medow, Heath [etc.]; all which my countrymen of the North call skelping earths.

44 1751.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Earth, By means of sand it is, that the fatty earth is rendered fertile.

45 1790.  Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial., 76. They racken his Earth is as gud as onny ith Parrish.

46   6.  Electr. The ground considered as the medium by which a circuit is completed. Hence used for: A communication with the earth.

47 1870.  R. Ferguson, Electr., 250. An ‘earth,’ however, is generally put at each station.

48   II.  The world on which we dwell.

49   7.  The dry land, as opposed to the sea.

50 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. i. 10. And God geciʓde þa driʓnisse eorðan.

51 c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 15. ʓe befareð sæ and eorðan.

52 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 116. Ðe ðridde dai … was water and erðe o sunder sad.

53 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 383. Þe watris all he calid þe se, Þe drey he calid erd.

54 1382.  Wyclif, Gen. i. 10. God clepid the drie erthe.

55 1667.  Milton, P. L., VII. 624. The seat of men, Earth, with her nether Ocean circumfus’d.

56 1712–4.  Pope, Rape Lock, IV. 119. Sooner let earth, air, sea to Chaos fall.

57 1826.  J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. I. 6. There’s sae strong a spirit of life hotchin over yearth and sea.

58   8.  The world as including land and sea; as distinguished from the (material) heaven.

59 Beowulf, 92 (Gr.). Se ælmihtiʓa eorðan w[orhte].

60 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 139. Sunnen dei was iseȝan þet formeste liht buuen eorðe.

61 c. 1205.  Lay., 4154. He somenede ferd Swulc nes næuere eær on erde.

62 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 40. Of noȝt Was heuene and erðe samen wroȝt.

63 c. 1320.  Cast. Loue, 95. God atte begynnynges Hedde i-maad heuene wiþ ginne … And þe eorþe þer-after þer-wiþ.

64 1686.  J. Scott, Chr. Life, II. II. vii. 1169. Spreading far and wide, even to the utmost ends of the Earth.

65 1698.  Keill, Exam. Th. Earth (1734), 137. What proportion all the Rivers in the Earth bear to the Po.

66 a. 1813.  A. Wilson, Rab & Ringan, Poet. Wks. (1846), 147. He ca’d the kirk the church, the yirth the globe.

67 1854.  Tomlinson, Arago’s Astron., 99. Men for a long while regarded the earth as a boundless plain.

68   9.  Considered as the present abode of man; frequently contrasted with heaven or hell. In poet. and rhet. use often without the article.

69 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxviii. 18. Me is ʓeseald ælc anweald on heofonan and on eorþan [c. 950 Lindisf. on eorðo].

70 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 47. Heo on eorðe ȝeueð reste to alle eorðe þrelles wepmen and wifmen of heore þrel weorkes.

71 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 29280. Crist has here in irthe leuyd Þe hele of cristendom and heuyd. Ibid., 71. [Scho] saues me first in herth fra syn, And heuen blys me helps to wyn.

72 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 515. To conquere alle seculer lordship in þis eorþe.

73 c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 8. Wat þu byndist vpon ȝerþe, it schal be boundoun al so in heuin.

74 c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 462. Shalle not long wt ȝou in urthe a byde.

75 c. 1430.  Life St. Kath. (1884), 13. And he … loueth hir chastite a monge alle þe virgyns in erthe.

76 c. 1500.  Lancelot, 128. For in this erith no lady is so fare.

77 1546.  Primer Hen. VIII., 74. To whom … In heaven & yerth be laud and praise. Amen.

78 1597.  J. Payne, Royal Exch., 37. I came not to send peace in to the yerthe but warr.

79 1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., I. iii. 45. Those that haue knowne the Earth so full of faults.

80 1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 99. O Earth! how like to Heav’n, if not preferr’d More justly.

81 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 814/147. Mighty Cæsar … On the glad Earth the Golden Age renews.

82 1813.  Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 182. But Kilmeny on yirth was nevir mayre seine.

83 1858.  Trench, Parables, ii. (1877), 15. Earth is not a shadow of heaven, but heaven … a dream of earth.

84   b.  transf. The inhabitants of the world.

85 1549.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Benedicite, O let the Earth, speak good of the Lord.

86 1611.  Bible, Gen. xi. 1. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speach.

87   c.  In the intensive expression on earth.

88 1862.  Thackeray, Philip (1872), 228. What scheme on (h)earth are you driving at?

89 Mod.  What on earth is the matter here?

90   10.  Considered as a sphere, orb or planet.

91 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 5339. Erthe, that bitwixe is sett The sonne and hir [the moon].

92 1555.  Eden, Decades W. Ind., Cont. (Arb.), 45. A demonstration of the roundenesse of the earth.

93 1658.  Culpepper, Astrol. Judgem. Dis., 18. The Earth is a great lump of dirt rolled up together, and … hanged in the Air.

94 1726.  trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 403. The Place of the Aphelion or Perihelion of the Earth.

95 1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. Introd. 32. The Earth is lengthened out at the Poles.

96 1854.  Brewster, More Worlds, Introd. 2. The earth is a planet which turns round its own axis and also round the sun.

97   † b.  transf. A world resembling the earth; a (supposed) habitable planet.

98 1678.  Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 381. He [Anaxagoras] affirmed the Sun to be nothing but a Mass of Fire, and the Moon an Earth, having Mountains and Valleys, Cities and Houses in it.

99 1684.  T. Burnet, Th. Earth, I. 168. We will consider … the rest of the earths, or of the planets within our heavens.

100 1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 23. This is the 1st, or highest, of 7 earths.

101   III.  † 11. [? After L. terra.] A country, land; portion of the earth’s surface. Obs.

102 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John iii. 22. Æfter ðas cum se hælend … in iudea eorðu [c. 975 Rushw. eorðo].

103 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5484. Ioseph … first was berid in þat contre, Siþen born til his erth was he.

104 c. 1382.  Wyclif, Ezek. xxi. 2. Sone of man … prophecy thou aȝens the erthe of Israel.

105 c. 1435.  Torr. Portugal, 1325. They yave Ser Torent that he wan, Both the erth and the woman.

106 1556.  Lauder, Tract. (1864), 270. And … ȝe be nocht feird But doute for to possesse the eird.

107 1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 344. This hand That swayes the earth this Climate ouerlookes.

108 1628.  Hobbes, Thucyd., 43. The Athenians haue the spirit not to be slaues to their earth.

109   IV.  As a substance or material.

110   12.  The material of which the surface of the ground is composed, soil, mould, dust, clay.

111 a. 1000.  Guthlac, 351 (Gr.). Þeah min ban and blod butu ʓeweorðen eorðan to eacan.

112 a. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 221. God … cweð þat he wolde wercan man of eorðan.

113 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 928. Vnto þat erth þou was of tan.

114 a. 1300.  Havelok, 740. A litel hus to maken of erthe.

115 a. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 427. Askes and pouder, erthe and clay.

116 1534.  Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), C v. To graue … in erthe, and other sculptures.

117 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 193. Now is your Season for Circumposition by Tubs or Baskets of Earth.

118 1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 15. Mould, Sand, Gravil or Clay (all which I call Earth).

119 1806.  Gazetteer Scotl., 54. Alternate strata of earth and limestone.

120 1836.  Thirlwall, Greece, II. xiv. 213. The envoys … undertook to give earth and water.

121 1865.  G. Macdonald, A. Forbes, III. 168. ‘Sober floories that smell o’ the yird like.’

122   † b.  Clay as material for pottery. Obs.

123 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 69. He wolde euer be serued in vessels of erth.

124 1660.  Act 12 Chas. II., iv. Sched. s.v. Bottles, Bottles … of Earth or Stone the dozen.

125   c.  In Sugar-making. A layer of earth spread over the raw sugar in the process of refining.

126 1752.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Sugar, When the second earth is taken off, they cleanse the surface of the sugar with a brush.

127   13.  As the type of dull, dead matter.

128 1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 78. Dar’st thou, thou little better thing then earth, Divine his downfall?

129   b.  As a disparaging term for precious metal.

130 1612.  W. Parkes, Curtaine Dr. (1876), 34. My bagges are full … with the white and red earth of the world.

131   c.  Used for: The body. Cf. dust, clay.

132 a. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., cxlvi. Poore soule the center of my sinfull earth.

133 1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Maid’s Trag., V. (1679), 19. This earth of mine doth tremble, and I feel A stark affrighted motion in my blood.

134 1822.  Shelley, Hellas, 21. The indignant spirit cast its mortal garment Among the slain—dead earth upon the earth.

135   14.  Earth as one of the four so-called ‘elements.’ Also, in pre-scientific chemistry, one of the supposed five (or six) elements; see quot. 1778.

136 a. 1300.  Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright), 267. Of this four elementz ech quik thing y-maked is, Of urthe, of water, and of eyr, and of fur, i-wis.

137 1393.  Gower, Conf., III. 92. Four elements there ben diverse, The first of hem men erthe call.

138 1564.  P. Moore, Hope Health, I. iii. 5. The yearth is the loweste and heauiest element.

139 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 294. You should not rest Betweene the elements of ayre and earth.

140 1778.  Dict. of Art & Sciences, s.v. Element, The elements … to which all bodies may be … reduced are … Water … Air … Oil … Salt … Earth.

141   15.  Chem. (See quots.) In mod. use restricted to certain metallic oxides, agreeing in having little taste or smell, and in being uninflammable, e.g., magnesia, alumina, zirconia, and the ‘alkaline earths’ baryta, lime, strontia.

142 1728.  Woodward, Fossils, 1 (J.). Earths, or Bodies opake, insipid, and, when dryed, friable, or consisting of Parts easy to separate, and soluble in Water.

143 1751.  Sir J. Hill, Mat. Med., 177 (J.). The five Genera of Earths are 1. Boles. 2. Clays. 3. Marls. 4. Ochres. 5. Tripelas.

144 1791.  Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. i. I. i. 22. They unite with acids, alkalis … and some earths, principally alumine.

145 1814.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., 12. Four Earths generally abound in soils, the aluminous, the siliceous, the calcareous, and the magnesian.

146 1863–79.  Watts, Dict. Chem., II. 360. Earths, this name is applied to the oxides of the metals, barium, strontium, etc.

147   B.  Earth- in comb.

148   I.  General relations.

149   1.  attributive. a. Pertaining to the earth as a world, or as a globe or planet; as in earth-god, -goddess, -history, -lord, -measure, -noise, -pole, -power, -surface. b. Pertaining to the ground, dwelling or existing on, near, or below the surface of the ground, as in earth-beetle, -bird, -damp, -fly, -hole. c. Pertaining to the crust of the earth, as in earth-throe, -tremor. d. Pertaining to the earth in relation to electricity, as in earth-resistance. e. Characteristic of earth as a substance, as in earth-colo(u)r, -tint; composed of earth, as in earth-bank, -bottom, -envelope, -mound, -wall.

150 1866.  Kingsley, Herew., I. xix. 349. He rode slowly into … the high *earth-banks of his ancient home.

151 1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 379. A kind of *earth-beetles called Tauri, i. Buls.

152 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 132. Þeos … beoþ *eorð briddes, & nesteð o þer eorðe.

153 1883.  F. G. Heath, in Century Mag., Dec., 169/1. Over the original *earth-bottom of the cave is a bed or layer of considerable thickness.

154 1814.  Scott, Wav., xxxvii. The light usually carried by a miner … certain to be extinguished should he encounter the more formidable hazard of *earth-damps or pestiferous vapours.

155 1884.  H. R. Haweis, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 191. The *earth-envelope of mind is not the measure of mind.

156 1731.  Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 176. There is a sort of Flies at the Cape which the Europeans call *Earth-flies.

157 1878.  Gladstone, Prim. Homer, 74. We have no acknowledged *earth-goddess in the poems.

158 1880.  A. Wallace, Isl. Life, 83. The opposite belief, which is now rapidly gaining ground among the students of *earth-history.

159 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 139. He turnde … fro mennes wunienge to wilde deores, and ches þere crundel to halle and *eorðhole to bure.

160 1628.  Gaule, Pract. The., 42. The *Earth-Lords [Adam’s] honour now layd in the dust.

161 1570.  Billingsley, Euclid, XII. xviii. 389. It was nedefull for Mechanicall *earthmeasures, not to be ignorant of the measure and contents of the circle.

162 1875.  Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, Immortality, Wks. (Bohn), II. 280. The Pyramids … and cromlechs and *earth-mounds much older.

163 1850.  Browning, Poems, II. 435. I can hear it ’Twixt my spirit And the *earth-noise, intervene.

164 1847.  Emerson, Poems (1857), 32. From the *earth-poles to the line.

165 1887.  Spectator, 7 May, 626/1. The *earth-powers which dwell in the billows, the rain, the frost, and the air.

166 1870.  R. Ferguson, Electr., 243. The *earth resistance to the current … is next to nothing.

167 1883.  Proctor, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 566. An extent of *earth-surface to be measured. Ibid. Tens of thousands of human beings have … been destroyed by *earth-throes.

168 1865.  Daily Tel., 27 Oct., 3/1. The colour of these tiles is a deep *earth-tint.

169 1887.  G. H. Darwin, Earthquakes, in Fortn. Rev., Feb., 274. These troublesome changes are called *earth tremors.

170 1884.  Athenæum, 16 Aug., 217/3. Dr. Bruce also pointed out traces … of the vallum or *earthwall.

171   2.  objective. a. (sense 1), as earth-tilling, -worker vbl. sbs., earth-baking, -convulsing, -delving, -incinerating, piercing, -trading ppl. adjs. b. (senses 7, 8), as earth-measuring vbl. sb., † earths-amazing, earth-crossing, -destroying, -devouring, -embleming, -overgazing, -refreshing, -vexing ppl. adjs. c. (sense 9), as earth-poring, -seeking ppl. adjs. d. (sense 12), as earth-grubber, -maker, -scraper; earth-eating vbl. sb. and ppl. adj.; earth-wheeling vbl. sb.

172 1624.  Quarles, Job (1717), 221. Jehovah did at length unshroud His *Earths-amazing language.

173 1847.  Emerson, Poems (1857), 143. *Earth-baking heat.

174 1819.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. (1878), II. 132. *Earth-convulsing behemoth.

175 1886.  Proctor, in 19th Cent., May, 692. A special *earth-crossing family of Comets.

176 1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 687. Where *earth-deluing Conies keepe.

177 a. 1631.  Drayton, Wks., IV. 1540 (Jod.). This all drowning *earth-destroying shower.

178 c. 1605.  Montgomerie, Poems, 39 (Jod.). The *earth devouring anguish of despair.

179 1852.  Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., II. xxiv. 499. These examples of *earth-eating in the torrid zone appear very strange.

180 1869.  trans. Pouchet’s Universe (1870), 33. There are a tolerably large number of earth-eating tribes in North America, especially among the negroes spread through the forests of Carolina and Florida.

181 1839.  Bailey, Festus, x. (1848), 108. The sacrificial ox, *earth-embleming.

182 c. 1630.  Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 33/2. The Earth, and *Earth-embracing Sea, did Shake.

183 1870.  Bryant, Homer, I. IX. 274. They offered prayer To earth-embracing Neptune.

184 1883.  Proctor, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 566. The *earth-fashioning power of vulcanian forces.

185 1661.  K. W., Conf. Charac., Usurer (1860), 74. This miserable *earth-grubber doth … acquire this trash with vexation.

186 1869.  Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xv. 2. True believers do not … bend double as earth-grubbers.

187 1801.  W. Huntington, Bank of Faith, 34. Finding nothing could be done with the *earth-holders, I … determined to build my stories in the heaven.

188 1598.  J. Dickenson, Greene in Conc. (1878), 134. *Earth-incinerating Aetnas wombe big swolne with flames.

189 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), II. 265. Potters: And *Earth makers, that is to say, People that tamper’d the Earth for the China Ware.

190 1570.  Billingsley, Euclid, XII. xviii. 389. Geometria, that is, *Earthmeasuring.

191 1816.  Byron, Ch. Har., III. xci. The peak Of *earth-o’ergazing mountains.

192 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 206. The broad and upturned base Of that *earth-piercing altar pyramid.

193 1646.  G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 24. High, and purged Soules Leave Time and Place, to dull *earth-poring fooles.

194 a. 1631.  Drayton, Wks., II. 479 (Jod.). The *earth-refreshing Sun … his golden head doth run Far under us.

195 1615.  T. Adams, Spiritual Navig., 34. *Earth scrapers … that would dig to the Center to exhale riches.

196 1646.  G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 13. A low bruit Affection … which binds In Sensuall Fetters, lowe *Earth-seeking minds.

197 1875.  E. White, Life in Christ, I. i. (1878), 3. Wearing so many crowns, as *Earth-subduer, Legislator.

198 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 31. Þis kyng [Azarias] louede wel *erþe telynge.

199 1382.  Wyclif, 1 Cor. iii. 9. Ȝe ben the erthe tilyinge of God.

200 1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. ii. 25. *Earth-treading starres, that make darke heauen light.

201 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 42. This *earth-vexing smart.

202 1477.  in York Myst., Introd. 21, note. Garthyners, *erthe wallers, pavers, dykers.

203 1885.  Sir R. Rawlinson, in Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Jan., 1/2. Stockport, where men had been set to test work at *earth-wheeling.

204 1872.  H. Macmillan, True Vine, ii. 57. *‘Earth-worker,’ as the original word for husbandman should be rendered.

205   3.  instrumental with passive pple., as earth-blinded, -dimmed, -fed, -rampired, -stained, -worn.

206 1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. viii. Thou the *Earth-blinded summonest both Past and Future.

207 1884.  W. G. Horder, in Chr. World Pulpit, 12 Nov., 310/3. Our *earth-dimmed souls.

208 1605.  B. Jonson, Volpone, III. vii. *Earth-fed Minds That never tasted the true Heav’n of love.

209 1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., cli. *Earth-rampeir’d Ears, expect the Drum to Call.

210 1827.  Keble, Chr. Y. 24th Sund. after Trin. The *earth-stained spright Whose wakeful musings are of guilt and fear.

211 1866.  E. Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture, 177. The *earth-worn face of the living.

212   4.  adverbial with adjs. or vbl. sbs. Chiefly locative and originative (in, on, near to the earth; from, of the earth), and similative (as the earth); as in earth-bedded, -bound, -bowed, -bred, -burrower, -colo(u)red, -creeping, -ejected, -gaping, -grovelling, -lent, -low, -made, -nurtured, -proud, -rooted, -sprung, -turned, -undone, -wide.

213 1813.  Scott, Rokeby, II. xv. Yon *earth-bedded jetting-stone.

214 1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 96. Who can … bid the Tree Vnfixe his earth-bound Root?

215 1865.  G. Smith, Autumn, iv. in Macm. Mag., XIII. 54. *Earth-bow’d trees.

216 1594.  ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. 1881–3, XIV. 285. *Earth-bred brethren, which once Heapte hill on hill to scale the starrie skie.

217 1603.  H. Crosse, Vertues Commw. (1878), 90. Earth-bred wormes,… will stand vpon termes of gentilitie.

218 1622.  May, Heir, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 517. The earth-bred thoughts of his gross soul.

219 1883.  Wood, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 162. The mole is an *earth-burrower.

220 1877.  Daily News, 1 Nov., 5–6. We reached Biela at dark, *earth-coloured,… wet and out of spirits.

221 1581.  Sidney, Apol. Poesie (1622), 530. So *earth-creeping a mind, that it cannot lift itself vp to looke to the skies of Poetry.

222 1819.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. ii. The earth-creeping breeze.

223 1886.  Proctor, in 19th Cent., May, 694. The orbit … had been that of the *earth-ejected comet.

224 1596.  Fitz-Geffrey, Sir F. Drake (1881), 31. *Earth-gaping Chasma’s, that mishap aboades.

225 1642.  H. More, Song of Soul, I. III. xxxviii. This Province … is hight *earth-grovelling Aptery.

226 1839.  Bailey, Festus, vi. (1848), 61. With every *earthlent ray of every star Holy and special influences are.

227 1600.  Tourneur, Transf. Met., cclxxxii. With fleecy Wooll, that hung on *earth-low brakes.

228 1849.  Hare, Par. Serm., II. 416. Everything *earth-made has a weight in it which drags it down to earth.

229 1881.  H. Phillips, trans. Chamisso’s Faust, 15. Woe and wail! earth-born, *earth-nurtured!

230 1868.  Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), I. 218. Weary *earth-plodders.

231 1847.  Emerson, Poems (1857), 70. *Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs.

232 1871.  G. Macdonald, Songs of Days & Nts., 51. The long grass … an *earth-rooted sea.

233 1614.  R. Taylor, Hog lost Pearl, in Dodsley (1780), VI. 412. Tortur’d by the weak assailments Of *earth-sprung griefs.

234 a. 1849.  J. C. Mangan, Poems (1850), 74. Earthsprung mothers, of an earthly name, Doomed to die because of Pyrrha born.

235 1618.  Braithwait, Descr. Death. *Earth-turned, mole-eied, flesh-hook, that puls us hence.

236 1850.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 313. As one God-satisfied and *earth-undone.

237 1864.  R. S. Hawker, Quest Sangraal, 4. The *Earthwide Judge, Pilate the Roman.

238   II.  Special comb.: earth-almonds, ‘the corms of Cyperus esculentus’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); earth-bags = sand-bags (Adm. Smyth); see earth-sack; earth-balls, truffles, Tuber cibarium (Britten and Holland); † earth-bath, a kind of medical treatment in which the patient was buried up to the shoulders in the ground; earth-battery (Electr.), a battery formed by burying two voltaic elements in the earth some distance apart; earth-bed, a bed upon the ground; the grave; † earthbind, some creeping plant; earth-bob, a maggot, the larva of a beetle; † earth-coal, coal as distinguished from charcoal; earth-car (see quot.); earth-chestnut = EARTH-NUT; † earth-chine, a cleft in the earth; earth-closet, a substitute for a water-closet, in which earth is used as a deodorising agent; earth-current (Electr.), an irregular current due to the earth, which affects telegraph wires so as to render them temporarily useless for communication; † earth-dog, a terrier; earth-drake, mod. rendering of OE. eorð-draca earth-dragon; † earth-flax, some mineral, possibly asbestos; earth-flea, earth-fly, = CHIGO; earth-foam, a variety of Aphrite; earth-fork, a digging fork; earth-gall, the Lesser Centaury, Erythræa Centaurium; earth-hog = AARD-VARK; earth-house, an underground chamber or dwelling; fig. the grave; earth-hunger, a disease characterized by a morbid craving for eating earth; fig. desire to possess land, greed of territory; † earth-ivy = GROUND-IVY; † earth-lice, transl. L. pedunculi terræ (see quot.); earth-marl, marl containing a large proportion of clay; earth-moss, the genus Phascum (Britten and Holland); earth-mouse, the plant Lathyrus tuberosus (Britten and Holland); † earth-moving vbl. sb. = EARTHQUAKE; earth-oil, petroleum; earth-pillar (Geol.), a pillar-like mass of earth (see quot.); † earth-planet, nonce-wd., a fugitive, wanderer; earth-plate (Electr.), a metal plate buried in the earth, connected with a telegraph battery in order that the circuit may be completed by the earth; † earth-puff, a puff-ball fungus (Nares); † earthric (Orm. eorþeriche), the earth-realm, earth as a region; earth-rind, rhetorically used for ‘crust of the earth’; also fig.; earth-sack, a sack filled with earth, used as a fascine in fortifications; earth-sculpture, the physical processes by which the form of the earth’s surface is altered; earth-shaker, also earth-shaking ppl. a., chiefly used as epithets of Poseidon or Neptune; earth-shaking vbl. sb., formerly = EARTHQUAKE; earth-shine (Astron.) = EARTH-LIGHT; earth-shock, a convulsion of the earth; † an earthquake; † earth-shrew, the Shrew-mouse; earth-side, nonce-wd., earthward side or aspect; earth-smoke, the plant Fumitory (Britten and Holland); earth-spider, the Tarantula; earth-spring, in electrical machines a spring connected with the earth; earth-star, a fungus so called from its stellate shape when lying on the ground; also as nonce-wd., applied to the earth considered as a ‘star,’ and to luminous objects resembling stars; earth-stopper, one who is employed to stop up the ‘earths’ or holes of foxes; earth-table (Arch.), see quot.; earth-tongue (Bot.), Eng. rendering of the name of the genus Geoglossum (Treas. Bot.); earth-wave, a seismic wave in the solid crust of the earth; earth-wolf, transl. Du. AARD-WOLF, q.v. Also EARTH-APPLE, -BOARD, -BORN, -DIN, -FAST, -LESS, -LIGHT, -MAD, -WISE, -WORK, -WORM.

239 1765.  Nat. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 108/2. The *Earth-bath … may be used with safety only from the end … of May to … October.

240 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6962. Ioseph bans þai wit ham ledd, þar þai þam grof in *erth bedd.

241 1637.  Nabbes, Microcosm., in Dodsley, IX. 163. My earth-bed wet with nightly tears.

242 1877.  Browning, La Saisiaz, 118. Of all earth-beds, to your mind Most the choice for quiet, yonder.

243 1579.  Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 205. Headache of rheume, put in the iuyce of white *Earthbinde into the nose.

244 1740.  R. Brookes, Art of Angling, I. iii. 13. The *Earth-Bob or White-Grub is a Worm with a red Head.

245 1787.  Best, Angling (ed. 2), 57. The best bait for them in the winter is, the earth bob, it is the spawn of the beetle.

246 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Earth-car = dumping-car, a car for transporting gravel and stone in railway operations.

247 c. 1220.  Bestiary, 402. [A fox] goð o felde to a furg, and falleð ðarinne, In eried lond er in *erð-chine.

248 1870.  Eng. Mech., 18 March, 661/3. He had converted a privy into an *earth-closet.

249 1871.  Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. viii. 233. The dry earth-closet is especially valuable.

250 1807.  Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), I. 12. They burn *earth-coal everywhere.

251 1879.  Thomson & Tait, Nat. Phil., I. I. § 376. An unknown and ever varying electromotive force … due to the earth (producing what is commonly called the *‘earth-current’).

252 1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Countrey Farme, 699. The hunting of the Foxe and Broke … is to bee performed with *earth-dogs.

253 a. 1000.  Beowulf (Gr.), 2711. Sio wund … þe him se *eorð-draca ær ʓeworhte.

254 18[?].  Ogilvie, s.v. Earth-drake, cites W. Spalding.

255 1728.  Woodward, Fossils, 14 (J.). English Talc, of which the coarser Sort is call’d Plaister, or Parget, the finer, Spaad, *Earth-Flax, or Salamander’s Hair.

256 1872.  Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 349. A soft friable variety of it [aphrite] called *earth-foam.

257 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 186. Centaurian sume hatað hyrde wyrt sume *eorð ʓeallan.

258 1611.  Cotgr., Repeyret, Feuerwort, Earthgall, Centorie the lesse.

259 1884.  Miller, Plant Names, 40. Earth-gall, Erythræa Centaurium and other plants of the Gentian tribe.

260 1731.  Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 118. The *Earth-hogs … are not unlike the European hogs, excepting that their colour approaches to a red.

261 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 146. Romane him … worhton *eorþ hus for þære lyfte wilme.

262 c. 1205.  Lay., 2381. Seouen ȝer wes Astrild i þissen eorð huse [1250 erþ huse].

263 a. 1856.  Longf., Grave, 28. Loathsome is that earth-house and grim within to dwell.

264 1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, vii. Truth, Wks. (Bohn), II. 53. The *earth-hunger, or preference for property in land, which is said to mark the Teutonic nations.

265 1884.  Graphic, 4 Oct., 342/2. The Boers … whose earth hunger is notorious will gradually ‘eat-up’ all the surrounding territories.

266 c. 1050.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 299. Hedera nigra, *eorðifiʓ.

267 c. 1265.  Voc. Plant-names, in Wr.-Wülcker, 558. Hedera nigra, oerþiui.

268 1561.  Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 37 a. Take the lesse Shaving girss … and Earth yvy, of eche two handfull.

269 1601.  Holland, Pliny, II. 379. Some tearme them Pedunculos terræum, *earth-lice.

270 1770–4.  A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), I. 226, note. A very considerable number of *earth-marls are of a stony hardness.

271 1831.  Brit. Husb., I. 311. The origin of earth-marl is a subject of curious inquiry.

272 1859.  All Y. Round, No. 32. 126. The *earth-mouse (Lathyrus tuberosus), which the French peasant will not cultivate because, he says, it walks underground.

273 1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xxiv. 7. *Erthemouyngis schulen be by placis.

274 1755.  Baker, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep., I. 172 (Y.). About 200 Families … employed in getting *Earth-oil out of Pitts.

275 1870.  Lyell, Student’s Geol., vi. (ed. 4), 82. *Earth-pillars with stones on their tops are relics of the country worn away all around them.

276 1591.  Florio, 2nd Fruites, 141. Children, whores, and fugitiues … A man must not beleeue these runagate *earth-planets.

277 1585.  J. Higins, trans. Junius Nomenclator (N.). Mushrooms, tadstooles, earthturfes, *earthpuffes.

278 c. 1200.  Ormin, 12132. Nan eorþliȝ kinedom Here upponn *eorþeriche.

279 1850.  Carlyle, Latter-d. Pamph., iv. 8. On what a bottomless volcano … separated from us by a thin *earth-rind, Society … in the present epoch, rests!

280 1871.  Hartwig, Subterr. W., i. 5. The history of the earth-rind opens to us a vista into time.

281 1708.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4471/2. We began … to fill the Fosse … with Fascines and *Earth-Sacks.

282 1883.  Mrs. Prestwich, in Gd. Words, 643/2. Glaciers and other agents of *earth-sculpture.

283 1647.  R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 184. Th’ *earth-shaker Neptune.

284 1846.  Grote, Greece (1869), I. 55. The mighty Poseidon, the earth-shaker and the ruler of the sea.

285 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 299. Mammertus … ordeyned Rogaciouns aȝenst *erþe schakynge. Ibid., VII. xv. (1527), 280 b. In ytalye was an erth-sakynge that dured xl dayes.

286 1634.  Milton, Comus, 869. By the *earth-shaking Neptune’s mace.

287 1875.  Longf., Masq. Pandora, III. sp. 8. The earth-shaking trident of Poseidon.

288 1834.  Nat. Philos. (U.K.S.), III. Astron., iii. 77/2. That part of the moon which receives no light directly from the sun, may, by indirectly receiving it from the earth, become … faintly visible. The appearance … has received the name of *earth-shine.

289 1876.  G. Chambers, Astron., 87. The Earth-shine is more luminous before the New Moon than after it.

290 c. 1315.  Shoreham, 124. Altha was an *erthe-schoke.

291 1816.  Byron, Siege Cor., xxxiii. All the living things that heard That deadly earth-shock disappear’d.

292 1693.  in Phil. Trans., XVII. 851. The Shrew-mouse or Erd, i. e. *Earth-shrew.

293 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xiv. The *earth-side of the grave.

294 1858.  Sears, Athan., II. ix. 226. On this dark or earth-side of his [Christ’s] nature.

295 1883.  Chamb. Jrnl., 1 Dec., 760/2. A common *earth-spider, the tarantula.

296 1881.  Maxwell, Electr. & Magn., I. 299. When P moves away from the *earth-spring it carries this charge with it.

297 1816.  Byron, Siege Cor., v. Its *earth-stars melted into heaven.

298 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xxviii. (1848), 335. Is the earth-star struggling still with death?

299 1885.  W. H. Gibson, in Harper’s Mag., May, 912/1. The fungus called the earth-star, Geaster hygrometricus, a plant of the puff-ball tribe.

300 1880.  Times, 2 Nov., 4/5. There are huntsmen, whips and grooms, kennel attendants, smiths, and *earth-stoppers to be employed.

301 1875.  Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Earth Table … the plinth of a wall … or lowest course of projecting stones immediately above the ground.

302 1869.  Phillips, Vesuv., ix. 261. Heat in some way … generates the force of the *earth-wave.

303 1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 188. [In earthquakes] near the sea … the water-waves may be far more destructive than the earth-waves.

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