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.
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.]
(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.]
I. The ground.
1. Considered as a mere surface. † To win earth on: to gain ground upon; to lose earth: to lose ground.
Beowulf, 1533. Wearp ða wunden mæl … þæt hit on eorðan læʓ stið and stylecʓ.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., in Sweet, Ags. Reader (ed. 5), 85. Iohannes … astrehte his lichoman to eorðan on langsummum gebede.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8073. Forr he [Herod] warrþ seoc, and he bigann To rotenn bufenn eorþe.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13860. Þey wyþ-drowen hem, & erþe þey les.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 284. The Kyng … Wes laid at erd.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6817. Sum [he] hurlit to þe hard yerth.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 657. Twenty fote he garde hyme goo, Thus erthe on hym he wane.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., V. i. 199. They kneele, they kisse the Earth.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 192. Let your Gardiner endeavour to apply the Collateral Branches of his Wall-Fruits … to the Earth or Borders.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, V. 486. Part roll’d on the earth and rose again.
2. Considered as a solid stratum.
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.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, 57 a. The people … are constrained to inhabite in Caves, under the yearth.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 8 b. Of Gemmes, some are found in the earthes vaines, & are digged vp with Metalles.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, III. 334. Who under earth on human kind avenge Severe, the guilt of violated oaths.
[1865. Frost & Fire, II. 182. Them is what we call marble stones; they grow in the yearth.]
† 3. Considered as a place of burial; esp. in phrase To bring (a person) to (the) earth. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 4283. To gadere come his eorles & brohten hime to eorðe.
c. 1305. Edm. the Conf., 594, in E. P. P. (1862), 86. Ded he com iwis & þer he was ibroȝt an vrþe.
1387. E. E. Wills (1882), 2. Y be-quethe iii.li to bringe me on erthe.
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.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., V. i. (1594), I 4 b. And euery earth is fit for buriall.
4. The hole or hiding-place of a burrowing animal, as a badger, fox, etc. Also fig.
1575. Turberv., Bk. Venerie, 187. If you … put the Terryer into an earth where foxes be or Badgerdes, they will leave that earth.
1611. Cotgr., Accul,… the bottome … of a foxes, or badgers earth.
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.
1781. P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 332. I recommend to you, to turn them into large covers and strong earths.
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.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., vi. (1876), 113. They were generally near their earths, but the dogs killed one.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 253. And onward to the fortress rode the three … ‘So,’ thought Geraint, ‘I have track’d him to his earth.’
5. The soil as suited for cultivation; sometimes with a defining word denoting the nature or quality of the soil.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xiii. 7. Hrendas forðon ða ilca to huon uutedlice eorðo ʓi-onetað.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 155. Sum ful on þe gode eorðe and þat com wel forð.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 27268 (Fairf.). Tilmen … better þaire awen erþ tilis.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 141. Erye, or erthe [erde K], terra, humus, tellus.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 81. The bitterest erthe & werst that thou canst thinke.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 13. To plowe his barley-erthe.
1557. Lanc. Wills (1854), I. 143. On close lyeinge nerest unto James Bailies called the merled earthe.
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.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Earth, By means of sand it is, that the fatty earth is rendered fertile.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial., 76. They racken his Earth is as gud as onny ith Parrish.
6. Electr. The ground considered as the medium by which a circuit is completed. Hence used for: A communication with the earth.
1870. R. Ferguson, Electr., 250. An ‘earth,’ however, is generally put at each station.
II. The world on which we dwell.
7. The dry land, as opposed to the sea.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. i. 10. And God geciʓde þa driʓnisse eorðan.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 15. ʓe befareð sæ and eorðan.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 116. Ðe ðridde dai … was water and erðe o sunder sad.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 383. Þe watris all he calid þe se, Þe drey he calid erd.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. i. 10. God clepid the drie erthe.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 624. The seat of men, Earth, with her nether Ocean circumfus’d.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, IV. 119. Sooner let earth, air, sea to Chaos fall.
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. I. 6. There’s sae strong a spirit of life hotchin over yearth and sea.
8. The world as including land and sea; as distinguished from the (material) heaven.
Beowulf, 92 (Gr.). Se ælmihtiʓa eorðan w[orhte].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 139. Sunnen dei was iseȝan þet formeste liht buuen eorðe.
c. 1205. Lay., 4154. He somenede ferd Swulc nes næuere eær on erde.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 40. Of noȝt Was heuene and erðe samen wroȝt.
c. 1320. Cast. Loue, 95. God atte begynnynges Hedde i-maad heuene wiþ ginne … And þe eorþe þer-after þer-wiþ.
1686. J. Scott, Chr. Life, II. II. vii. 1169. Spreading far and wide, even to the utmost ends of the Earth.
1698. Keill, Exam. Th. Earth (1734), 137. What proportion all the Rivers in the Earth bear to the Po.
a. 1813. A. Wilson, Rab & Ringan, Poet. Wks. (1846), 147. He ca’d the kirk the church, the yirth the globe.
1854. Tomlinson, Arago’s Astron., 99. Men for a long while regarded the earth as a boundless plain.
9. Considered as the present abode of man; frequently contrasted with heaven or hell. In poet. and rhet. use often without the article.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxviii. 18. Me is ʓeseald ælc anweald on heofonan and on eorþan [c. 950 Lindisf. on eorðo].
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 47. Heo on eorðe ȝeueð reste to alle eorðe þrelles wepmen and wifmen of heore þrel weorkes.
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.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 515. To conquere alle seculer lordship in þis eorþe.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 8. Wat þu byndist vpon ȝerþe, it schal be boundoun al so in heuin.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 462. Shalle not long wt ȝou in urthe a byde.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 13. And he … loueth hir chastite a monge alle þe virgyns in erthe.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 128. For in this erith no lady is so fare.
1546. Primer Hen. VIII., 74. To whom … In heaven & yerth be laud and praise. Amen.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 37. I came not to send peace in to the yerthe but warr.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. iii. 45. Those that haue knowne the Earth so full of faults.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 99. O Earth! how like to Heav’n, if not preferr’d More justly.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 814/147. Mighty Cæsar … On the glad Earth the Golden Age renews.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 182. But Kilmeny on yirth was nevir mayre seine.
1858. Trench, Parables, ii. (1877), 15. Earth is not a shadow of heaven, but heaven … a dream of earth.
b. transf. The inhabitants of the world.
1549. Bk. Com. Prayer, Benedicite, O let the Earth, speak good of the Lord.
1611. Bible, Gen. xi. 1. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speach.
c. In the intensive expression on earth.
1862. Thackeray, Philip (1872), 228. What scheme on (h)earth are you driving at?
Mod. What on earth is the matter here?
10. Considered as a sphere, orb or planet.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5339. Erthe, that bitwixe is sett The sonne and hir [the moon].
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., Cont. (Arb.), 45. A demonstration of the roundenesse of the earth.
1658. Culpepper, Astrol. Judgem. Dis., 18. The Earth is a great lump of dirt rolled up together, and … hanged in the Air.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 403. The Place of the Aphelion or Perihelion of the Earth.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. Introd. 32. The Earth is lengthened out at the Poles.
1854. Brewster, More Worlds, Introd. 2. The earth is a planet which turns round its own axis and also round the sun.
† b. transf. A world resembling the earth; a (supposed) habitable planet.
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.
1684. T. Burnet, Th. Earth, I. 168. We will consider … the rest of the earths, or of the planets within our heavens.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 23. This is the 1st, or highest, of 7 earths.
III. † 11. [? After L. terra.] A country, land; portion of the earth’s surface. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John iii. 22. Æfter ðas cum se hælend … in iudea eorðu [c. 975 Rushw. eorðo].
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5484. Ioseph … first was berid in þat contre, Siþen born til his erth was he.
c. 1382. Wyclif, Ezek. xxi. 2. Sone of man … prophecy thou aȝens the erthe of Israel.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1325. They yave Ser Torent that he wan, Both the erth and the woman.
1556. Lauder, Tract. (1864), 270. And … ȝe be nocht feird But doute for to possesse the eird.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 344. This hand That swayes the earth this Climate ouerlookes.
1628. Hobbes, Thucyd., 43. The Athenians haue the spirit not to be slaues to their earth.
IV. As a substance or material.
12. The material of which the surface of the ground is composed, soil, mould, dust, clay.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 351 (Gr.). Þeah min ban and blod butu ʓeweorðen eorðan to eacan.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 221. God … cweð þat he wolde wercan man of eorðan.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 928. Vnto þat erth þou was of tan.
a. 1300. Havelok, 740. A litel hus to maken of erthe.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 427. Askes and pouder, erthe and clay.
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), C v. To graue … in erthe, and other sculptures.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 193. Now is your Season for Circumposition by Tubs or Baskets of Earth.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 15. Mould, Sand, Gravil or Clay (all which I call Earth).
1806. Gazetteer Scotl., 54. Alternate strata of earth and limestone.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, II. xiv. 213. The envoys … undertook to give earth and water.
1865. G. Macdonald, A. Forbes, III. 168. ‘Sober floories that smell o’ the yird like.’
† b. Clay as material for pottery. Obs.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 69. He wolde euer be serued in vessels of erth.
1660. Act 12 Chas. II., iv. Sched. s.v. Bottles, Bottles … of Earth or Stone the dozen.
c. In Sugar-making. A layer of earth spread over the raw sugar in the process of refining.
1752. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Sugar, When the second earth is taken off, they cleanse the surface of the sugar with a brush.
13. As the type of dull, dead matter.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 78. Dar’st thou, thou little better thing then earth, Divine his downfall?
b. As a disparaging term for precious metal.
1612. W. Parkes, Curtaine Dr. (1876), 34. My bagges are full … with the white and red earth of the world.
c. Used for: The body. Cf. dust, clay.
a. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxlvi. Poore soule the center of my sinfull earth.
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.
1822. Shelley, Hellas, 21. The indignant spirit cast its mortal garment Among the slain—dead earth upon the earth.
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.
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.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 92. Four elements there ben diverse, The first of hem men erthe call.
1564. P. Moore, Hope Health, I. iii. 5. The yearth is the loweste and heauiest element.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 294. You should not rest Betweene the elements of ayre and earth.
1778. Dict. of Art & Sciences, s.v. Element, The elements … to which all bodies may be … reduced are … Water … Air … Oil … Salt … Earth.
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.
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.
1751. Sir J. Hill, Mat. Med., 177 (J.). The five Genera of Earths are 1. Boles. 2. Clays. 3. Marls. 4. Ochres. 5. Tripelas.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, I. i. I. i. 22. They unite with acids, alkalis … and some earths, principally alumine.
1814. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., 12. Four Earths generally abound in soils, the aluminous, the siliceous, the calcareous, and the magnesian.
1863–79. Watts, Dict. Chem., II. 360. Earths, this name is applied to the oxides of the metals, barium, strontium, etc.
B. Earth- in comb.
I. General relations.
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.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., I. xix. 349. He rode slowly into … the high *earth-banks of his ancient home.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 379. A kind of *earth-beetles called Tauri, i. Buls.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 132. Þeos … beoþ *eorð briddes, & nesteð o þer eorðe.
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.
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.
1884. H. R. Haweis, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 191. The *earth-envelope of mind is not the measure of mind.
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 176. There is a sort of Flies at the Cape which the Europeans call *Earth-flies.
1878. Gladstone, Prim. Homer, 74. We have no acknowledged *earth-goddess in the poems.
1880. A. Wallace, Isl. Life, 83. The opposite belief, which is now rapidly gaining ground among the students of *earth-history.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 139. He turnde … fro mennes wunienge to wilde deores, and ches þere crundel to halle and *eorðhole to bure.
1628. Gaule, Pract. The., 42. The *Earth-Lords [Adam’s] honour now layd in the dust.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, XII. xviii. 389. It was nedefull for Mechanicall *earthmeasures, not to be ignorant of the measure and contents of the circle.
1875. Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, Immortality, Wks. (Bohn), II. 280. The Pyramids … and cromlechs and *earth-mounds much older.
1850. Browning, Poems, II. 435. I can hear it ’Twixt my spirit And the *earth-noise, intervene.
1847. Emerson, Poems (1857), 32. From the *earth-poles to the line.
1887. Spectator, 7 May, 626/1. The *earth-powers which dwell in the billows, the rain, the frost, and the air.
1870. R. Ferguson, Electr., 243. The *earth resistance to the current … is next to nothing.
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.
1865. Daily Tel., 27 Oct., 3/1. The colour of these tiles is a deep *earth-tint.
1887. G. H. Darwin, Earthquakes, in Fortn. Rev., Feb., 274. These troublesome changes are called *earth tremors.
1884. Athenæum, 16 Aug., 217/3. Dr. Bruce also pointed out traces … of the vallum or *earthwall.
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.
1624. Quarles, Job (1717), 221. Jehovah did at length unshroud His *Earths-amazing language.
1847. Emerson, Poems (1857), 143. *Earth-baking heat.
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. (1878), II. 132. *Earth-convulsing behemoth.
1886. Proctor, in 19th Cent., May, 692. A special *earth-crossing family of Comets.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 687. Where *earth-deluing Conies keepe.
a. 1631. Drayton, Wks., IV. 1540 (Jod.). This all drowning *earth-destroying shower.
c. 1605. Montgomerie, Poems, 39 (Jod.). The *earth devouring anguish of despair.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., II. xxiv. 499. These examples of *earth-eating in the torrid zone appear very strange.
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.
1839. Bailey, Festus, x. (1848), 108. The sacrificial ox, *earth-embleming.
c. 1630. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 33/2. The Earth, and *Earth-embracing Sea, did Shake.
1870. Bryant, Homer, I. IX. 274. They offered prayer To earth-embracing Neptune.
1883. Proctor, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 566. The *earth-fashioning power of vulcanian forces.
1661. K. W., Conf. Charac., Usurer (1860), 74. This miserable *earth-grubber doth … acquire this trash with vexation.
1869. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xv. 2. True believers do not … bend double as earth-grubbers.
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.
1598. J. Dickenson, Greene in Conc. (1878), 134. *Earth-incinerating Aetnas wombe big swolne with flames.
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.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, XII. xviii. 389. Geometria, that is, *Earthmeasuring.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xci. The peak Of *earth-o’ergazing mountains.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 206. The broad and upturned base Of that *earth-piercing altar pyramid.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 24. High, and purged Soules Leave Time and Place, to dull *earth-poring fooles.
a. 1631. Drayton, Wks., II. 479 (Jod.). The *earth-refreshing Sun … his golden head doth run Far under us.
1615. T. Adams, Spiritual Navig., 34. *Earth scrapers … that would dig to the Center to exhale riches.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 13. A low bruit Affection … which binds In Sensuall Fetters, lowe *Earth-seeking minds.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, I. i. (1878), 3. Wearing so many crowns, as *Earth-subduer, Legislator.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 31. Þis kyng [Azarias] louede wel *erþe telynge.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. iii. 9. Ȝe ben the erthe tilyinge of God.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. ii. 25. *Earth-treading starres, that make darke heauen light.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 42. This *earth-vexing smart.
1477. in York Myst., Introd. 21, note. Garthyners, *erthe wallers, pavers, dykers.
1885. Sir R. Rawlinson, in Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Jan., 1/2. Stockport, where men had been set to test work at *earth-wheeling.
1872. H. Macmillan, True Vine, ii. 57. *‘Earth-worker,’ as the original word for husbandman should be rendered.
3. instrumental with passive pple., as earth-blinded, -dimmed, -fed, -rampired, -stained, -worn.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. viii. Thou the *Earth-blinded summonest both Past and Future.
1884. W. G. Horder, in Chr. World Pulpit, 12 Nov., 310/3. Our *earth-dimmed souls.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, III. vii. *Earth-fed Minds That never tasted the true Heav’n of love.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., cli. *Earth-rampeir’d Ears, expect the Drum to Call.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y. 24th Sund. after Trin. The *earth-stained spright Whose wakeful musings are of guilt and fear.
1866. E. Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture, 177. The *earth-worn face of the living.
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.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. xv. Yon *earth-bedded jetting-stone.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 96. Who can … bid the Tree Vnfixe his earth-bound Root?
1865. G. Smith, Autumn, iv. in Macm. Mag., XIII. 54. *Earth-bow’d trees.
1594. ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. 1881–3, XIV. 285. *Earth-bred brethren, which once Heapte hill on hill to scale the starrie skie.
1603. H. Crosse, Vertues Commw. (1878), 90. Earth-bred wormes,… will stand vpon termes of gentilitie.
1622. May, Heir, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 517. The earth-bred thoughts of his gross soul.
1883. Wood, in Longm. Mag., Dec., 162. The mole is an *earth-burrower.
1877. Daily News, 1 Nov., 5–6. We reached Biela at dark, *earth-coloured,… wet and out of spirits.
1581. Sidney, Apol. Poesie (1622), 530. So *earth-creeping a mind, that it cannot lift itself vp to looke to the skies of Poetry.
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., II. ii. The earth-creeping breeze.
1886. Proctor, in 19th Cent., May, 694. The orbit … had been that of the *earth-ejected comet.
1596. Fitz-Geffrey, Sir F. Drake (1881), 31. *Earth-gaping Chasma’s, that mishap aboades.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, I. III. xxxviii. This Province … is hight *earth-grovelling Aptery.
1839. Bailey, Festus, vi. (1848), 61. With every *earthlent ray of every star Holy and special influences are.
1600. Tourneur, Transf. Met., cclxxxii. With fleecy Wooll, that hung on *earth-low brakes.
1849. Hare, Par. Serm., II. 416. Everything *earth-made has a weight in it which drags it down to earth.
1881. H. Phillips, trans. Chamisso’s Faust, 15. Woe and wail! earth-born, *earth-nurtured!
1868. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-Bks. (1879), I. 218. Weary *earth-plodders.
1847. Emerson, Poems (1857), 70. *Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs.
1871. G. Macdonald, Songs of Days & Nts., 51. The long grass … an *earth-rooted sea.
1614. R. Taylor, Hog lost Pearl, in Dodsley (1780), VI. 412. Tortur’d by the weak assailments Of *earth-sprung griefs.
a. 1849. J. C. Mangan, Poems (1850), 74. Earthsprung mothers, of an earthly name, Doomed to die because of Pyrrha born.
1618. Braithwait, Descr. Death. *Earth-turned, mole-eied, flesh-hook, that puls us hence.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 313. As one God-satisfied and *earth-undone.
1864. R. S. Hawker, Quest Sangraal, 4. The *Earthwide Judge, Pilate the Roman.
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.
1765. Nat. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 108/2. The *Earth-bath … may be used with safety only from the end … of May to … October.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6962. Ioseph bans þai wit ham ledd, þar þai þam grof in *erth bedd.
1637. Nabbes, Microcosm., in Dodsley, IX. 163. My earth-bed wet with nightly tears.
1877. Browning, La Saisiaz, 118. Of all earth-beds, to your mind Most the choice for quiet, yonder.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 205. Headache of rheume, put in the iuyce of white *Earthbinde into the nose.
1740. R. Brookes, Art of Angling, I. iii. 13. The *Earth-Bob or White-Grub is a Worm with a red Head.
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.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Earth-car = dumping-car, a car for transporting gravel and stone in railway operations.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 402. [A fox] goð o felde to a furg, and falleð ðarinne, In eried lond er in *erð-chine.
1870. Eng. Mech., 18 March, 661/3. He had converted a privy into an *earth-closet.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. viii. 233. The dry earth-closet is especially valuable.
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), I. 12. They burn *earth-coal everywhere.
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’).
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countrey Farme, 699. The hunting of the Foxe and Broke … is to bee performed with *earth-dogs.
a. 1000. Beowulf (Gr.), 2711. Sio wund … þe him se *eorð-draca ær ʓeworhte.
18[?]. Ogilvie, s.v. Earth-drake, cites W. Spalding.
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.
1872. Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 349. A soft friable variety of it [aphrite] called *earth-foam.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 186. Centaurian sume hatað hyrde wyrt sume *eorð ʓeallan.
1611. Cotgr., Repeyret, Feuerwort, Earthgall, Centorie the lesse.
1884. Miller, Plant Names, 40. Earth-gall, Erythræa Centaurium and other plants of the Gentian tribe.
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.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 146. Romane him … worhton *eorþ hus for þære lyfte wilme.
c. 1205. Lay., 2381. Seouen ȝer wes Astrild i þissen eorð huse [1250 erþ huse].
a. 1856. Longf., Grave, 28. Loathsome is that earth-house and grim within to dwell.
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.
1884. Graphic, 4 Oct., 342/2. The Boers … whose earth hunger is notorious will gradually ‘eat-up’ all the surrounding territories.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 299. Hedera nigra, *eorðifiʓ.
c. 1265. Voc. Plant-names, in Wr.-Wülcker, 558. Hedera nigra, oerþiui.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 37 a. Take the lesse Shaving girss … and Earth yvy, of eche two handfull.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 379. Some tearme them Pedunculos terræum, *earth-lice.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), I. 226, note. A very considerable number of *earth-marls are of a stony hardness.
1831. Brit. Husb., I. 311. The origin of earth-marl is a subject of curious inquiry.
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.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xxiv. 7. *Erthemouyngis schulen be by placis.
1755. Baker, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep., I. 172 (Y.). About 200 Families … employed in getting *Earth-oil out of Pitts.
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.
1591. Florio, 2nd Fruites, 141. Children, whores, and fugitiues … A man must not beleeue these runagate *earth-planets.
1585. J. Higins, trans. Junius Nomenclator (N.). Mushrooms, tadstooles, earthturfes, *earthpuffes.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12132. Nan eorþliȝ kinedom Here upponn *eorþeriche.
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!
1871. Hartwig, Subterr. W., i. 5. The history of the earth-rind opens to us a vista into time.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4471/2. We began … to fill the Fosse … with Fascines and *Earth-Sacks.
1883. Mrs. Prestwich, in Gd. Words, 643/2. Glaciers and other agents of *earth-sculpture.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 184. Th’ *earth-shaker Neptune.
1846. Grote, Greece (1869), I. 55. The mighty Poseidon, the earth-shaker and the ruler of the sea.
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.
1634. Milton, Comus, 869. By the *earth-shaking Neptune’s mace.
1875. Longf., Masq. Pandora, III. sp. 8. The earth-shaking trident of Poseidon.
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.
1876. G. Chambers, Astron., 87. The Earth-shine is more luminous before the New Moon than after it.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 124. Altha was an *erthe-schoke.
1816. Byron, Siege Cor., xxxiii. All the living things that heard That deadly earth-shock disappear’d.
1693. in Phil. Trans., XVII. 851. The Shrew-mouse or Erd, i. e. *Earth-shrew.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xiv. The *earth-side of the grave.
1858. Sears, Athan., II. ix. 226. On this dark or earth-side of his [Christ’s] nature.
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 1 Dec., 760/2. A common *earth-spider, the tarantula.
1881. Maxwell, Electr. & Magn., I. 299. When P moves away from the *earth-spring it carries this charge with it.
1816. Byron, Siege Cor., v. Its *earth-stars melted into heaven.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xxviii. (1848), 335. Is the earth-star struggling still with death?
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.
1880. Times, 2 Nov., 4/5. There are huntsmen, whips and grooms, kennel attendants, smiths, and *earth-stoppers to be employed.
1875. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Earth Table … the plinth of a wall … or lowest course of projecting stones immediately above the ground.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., ix. 261. Heat in some way … generates the force of the *earth-wave.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 188. [In earthquakes] near the sea … the water-waves may be far more destructive than the earth-waves.
