# earth

Pronunciation: say "URTH" US /ɝθ/, UK /ɜːθ/

## Proper noun · Earth

1. The planet on which humankind lives, third in order from the Sun within the Solar System.
   - Simple: The planet we live on, the third one from the sun.
   - _Light from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth._
   - _The Earth completes one orbit around the Sun roughly every 365 days._
5. The planet or the ground pictured as a person, chiefly as a fertile woman or, in religion, as a goddess.
   - Simple: The world or the land seen as a person, often a woman who makes things grow, or a goddess.
   - _The ancient hymn praises Earth as the mother who feeds every living thing._
   - _In the painting, Earth reclines among sheaves of wheat, her lap full of fruit._

## Noun

2. Soil, or the loose material of the ground in general, in which plants grow.
   - Simple: The soil or dirt that covers the ground and that plants grow in.
   - _Mix compost into the earth before planting the tomatoes._
   - _The farmers turned over the rich, dark earth with their plows._
3. The ground or dry land, as distinct from the sky or the sea.
   - Simple: The ground or land, not the sky or the sea.
   - _After six hours aloft, the balloonists came gently back to earth in a farmer's field._
   - _These seabirds spend months over the open ocean, rarely touching earth except to breed._
4. The world where we live our present lives, and its worldly concerns, as distinct from heaven, an afterlife, or the spiritual.
   - Simple: This world and the life we live now, not heaven or life after death.
   - _The preacher urged the congregation to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth._
   - _Whatever comes after, he wanted his last years on earth to be spent with his family._
6. Soil- or rock-based matter regarded as one of the four or five classical elements.
   - Simple: Soil or rock, seen as one of the four or five basic elements in old ideas about the world.
   - _Alchemists held that every substance was a blend of earth, air, fire, and water in different proportions._
   - _The feng shui consultant suggested yellow cushions to strengthen earth in the living room._
7. All the people of the world, taken together.
   - Simple: All the people in the world.
   - _When the war ended, it seemed the whole earth celebrated at once._
   - _The prophet's words were meant for all the earth, not just one nation._
8. Any planet similar to our own, especially an exoplanet thought of as another earth or a possible one.
   - Simple: Another planet that is a lot like ours.
   - _Astronomers announced that the newly found planet could be a second earth, rocky and temperate._
   - _Of the thousands of exoplanets discovered, only a few look like true earths._
10. An electrical connection to the ground, called a ground in the US, or the terminal on equipment that provides it. *(British)*
   - Simple: A connection from electrical equipment to the ground, or the part of a machine where it connects.
   - _The shock came from a faulty kettle whose earth had come loose._
   - _Before fitting the cover, connect the green-and-yellow wire to the earth on the back of the socket._
13. A den or lair in a hole in the ground, used by an animal such as a fox.
   - Simple: A hole in the ground where an animal such as a fox lives.
   - _The vixen raised four cubs in an earth dug into the bank of the stream._
   - _Volunteers counted the active earths along the edge of the woods each spring._

## Verb

11. To connect an electrical circuit or device to the ground. *(UK)*
   - Simple: To make an electrical connection between a machine and the ground.
   - _Always earth the frame of the generator before connecting any tools to it._
   - _The buzzing stopped once the turntable had been properly earthed._
14. To hide in a hole or burrow in the ground, or to chase an animal into its burrow or den.
   - Simple: To hide in a hole in the ground, or to chase an animal into its hole.
   - _When the hounds close in, a fox will try to earth in an old badger's burrow._
   - _By midmorning the fox was earthed, and the riders turned for home._

## Noun

9. Any of certain substances, now known to be metal oxides, that were once identified by their resistance to melting and their insolubility in water. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In old chemistry, a substance that would not melt or dissolve in water, now known to be metal joined with oxygen.
   - _Early chemists counted lime and magnesia among the earths, long before anyone knew they contained metals._
   - _Alumina was long classed as an earth before chemists showed that it contained a metal._
15. The physical body of a human being. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: The body of a person.

## Verb

12. To bury something or someone in the ground. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To put something in a hole in the ground and cover it up.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A region of the world, such as a particular land or country.

## Origin

**Meanings 2–4, 6–15** — Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- led to Proto-Germanic *erþō ("dirt, ground, earth") and Proto-West Germanic *erþu, then to Old English eorþe and Middle English erthe. Cognates, all meaning "earth," include Dutch aarde, German Erde, West Frisian ierde, Yiddish ערד (erd), Icelandic jörð, and jord in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
**Meanings 1, 5** — A Proto-Indo-European root meaning "earth" led to Proto-Germanic *erþō, Old English eorþe, and Middle English erthe. It is the same word as earth in the sense of the ground.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/earth (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).