globe

Pluralglobes

Formsglobes, globing, globed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The planet Earth.

   Climate change is reshaping coastlines across the globe.

   The company now ships its products to customers around the globe.

   Similarworld, planet, earth

   Note

   Here the planet is pictured as one surface to be crossed or covered, and the word almost always takes the. It sits most naturally after prepositions of spread: across the globe, in every part of the globe, or more than half the Globe, as Addison's Cato puts it in 1712. Reach for it when the point is worldwide extent.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A sphere on which the surface of the earth, or of another planet, is mapped out in miniature.

   An antique globe stood on the desk in his study.

   The museum displays a globe of Mars marked with its volcanoes and canyons.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Any object that is spherical or nearly spherical.

   The dandelion's seed head forms a delicate white globe.

   The glassblowers shaped the molten material into glowing globes.

   Similarsphere, ball, orb

   Note

   The root meaning, which came from Latin globus by way of French, and every other sense rounds back to it. In this use the word often takes an of-phrase naming what the sphere belongs to: the globe of the eye, the globe of a lamp. Used that way, it picks out the rounded part of something larger rather than a free-standing ball.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To make spherical; to form something into a ball.

   Surface tension will globe the falling droplets almost instantly.

   The glassblower globes the molten glass with a few practiced turns.

   Similarround, ball

5. 5
   verbintransitive

   To become spherical.

   In low gravity, floating water will globe into a perfect sphere.

   Spilled mercury globes into shining beads on the floor.

   Similarball, bead

   Note

   A verb that works with or without an object, using the same forms either way: globes, globing, globed. Without an object, the thing rounds itself up, as when spilled mercury globes into beads. With an object, something else does the shaping, which is the transitive use, as when surface tension globes the droplets. Only the construction shows which meaning is in play.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   In ancient Rome, a circular battle formation of soldiers, the counterpart of the infantry square in later armies.

   Cut off from the legion, the cohort formed a globe against the encircling cavalry.

   The veterans tightened their globe as arrows fell from three directions.

   Note

   Latin globus lies directly behind this military use: soldiers closed into a ring that faces outward on every side. Milton borrows the picture in Paradise Lost (1667), where "a globe of fiery seraphim" encloses a figure like a living guard. The image of a protective ring of bodies is the one to keep in mind when reading older poetry.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   Any of several North American land snails of the genus Mesodon, which have rounded shells.

   A globe had left a silvery trail across the porch steps overnight.

   Hikers sometimes spot globes feeding among the leaf litter of damp hardwood forests.

8. 8
   nounslangcountableplural

   A woman's breast or buttock, particularly a prominent one.

   Her low-cut gown revealed the upper swell of each globe.

   He watched her firm globes shift under the thin fabric of her skirt.

   Similarorb

   Note

   Slang that turns up mostly in the plural and mostly in jest. Katy Perry's 2016 boast about showing off hers, along with a wig, shows the typical tone. The word is uncommon even as slang and suits playful or knowing writing. In neutral prose it reads as coy, and in formal contexts it is best avoided.

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