land

Less common meanings

12. 12
    bring ashoreverbtransitive

    To bring people or goods ashore from a boat, or to get a hooked fish out of the water and onto the shore or a boat.

    After a long fight, the angler finally landed the marlin.

    The trawlers land their hauls at the cannery each evening.

    Similarcatch, unload

13. 13
    farming lifenoununcountable

    Farming and country life, as opposed to life in towns and cities; usually used as "the land".

    Tired of office work, the couple sold their condo and went back to the land.

    Families who had lived off the land for generations moved to the factory towns.

    UsageWith the, in set phrases: back to the land, live off the land, work the land.

    Similarcountry

    Note

    The definite article is part of the meaning: the land is a way of life, while plain land is ground you can buy. It lives in set phrases such as back to the land, living off the land, and working the land, and the first gave its name to the back-to-the-land movements of people leaving cities to farm. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Back-to-the-land movements involved people leaving cities to farm. confederationcentre.com
14. 14
    natural resourcesnoununcountableeconomics

    The factor of production, alongside labor and capital, that consists of natural resources such as ground, water, and minerals.

    Classical economists divided the inputs of production into land, labor, and capital.

    In a mining economy, land is the scarce input that sets the limit on output.

    Note

    Economists use the word far more widely than everyday speech does: it covers whatever nature supplies before any human effort, so a river, a forest or an ore deposit counts as land. The income it earns is traditionally called rent, just as labor earns wages and capital earns interest. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Economic land encompasses natural resources supplied independently of human effort. en.wikisource.org
    • Rivers, forests and ore deposits count as land in economics. en.wikipedia.org
    • The traditional income categories are rent for land, wages for labor and interest for capital. stlouisfed.org
15. 15
    verbtransitive

    To finish a jump or aerial trick by touching down under control.

    Few snowboarders can land a double cork on their first try.

    The skater finally landed the quadruple jump that had beaten her all season.

    UsageThe trick is the object (land a backflip); for the surface, use land on: land on the ice.

    Similarcomplete, nail

    Note

    Here the verb is transitive, and its object is the trick itself rather than the ground: a skater lands a quadruple jump, a snowboarder lands a double cork. The plain coming down to a surface sense uses on instead (land on the ice). Landing a trick means finishing it cleanly; falling on the way down means it was attempted but not landed.

16. 16
    go down wellverbfigurativelyintransitive

    To be well received by an audience.

    Sharp punchlines land best when the timing is exactly right.

    The new ad campaign landed with younger viewers far better than expected.

    UsageOften land well or land with an audience: the joke didn't land.

    Similarresonate, connect, click, work

    Oppositeflop, bomb

17. 17
    arrestverbcolloquialtransitive

    To capture or arrest someone.

    Months of surveillance helped them land the smuggler at the border.

    The raid landed three of the city's most wanted offenders.

    Similarcatch, arrest, capture, nab, collar

18. 18
    seduceverbslangtransitive

    To win someone over as a sexual partner; to score with them.

    He spent the whole night at the bar trying to land someone.

    He'd been trying to land the woman from the gym for months, and on Saturday she finally went home with him.

    Similarbed, pull, score

    Note

    This slang treats a sexual partner as a prize, the way one lands a job or contract. It takes a person as its object, often in crude phrasing such as land a chick. The boastful, objectifying tone makes it risky outside casual talk among friends, and in most writing it will read as crude rather than playful.

19. 19
    verbdatedintransitive

    To step down from or get out of a vehicle.

    10. You will be civil and attentive to passengers, giving proper assistance to ladies and children getting in or out, and never start the car before passengers are fairly received or landed.

    1859, “Rules adopted by the Sixth Avenue Railway, N. Y.”, quoted in Alexander Easton

    Similaralight, disembark

    Oppositeboard, embark

    Note

    Dated now, this use lets either the traveler land or the vehicle land its passengers. An 1859 rule of the Sixth Avenue Railway in New York tells staff never to start the car before passengers are "fairly received or landed." Modern English says alight, get out or get off. In older writing, the word is best understood rather than imitated. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The railway rule was published in 1859, in Alexander Easton's A Practical Treatise on Street or Horse-Power Railways. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The rule is attributed to the Sixth Avenue Railway in New York. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The rule instructs staff never to start the car before passengers are 'fairly received or landed'; the quotation is exact. upload.wikimedia.org
20. 20
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    The ground or floor underfoot.

    her selfe vppon the land / She did prostrate

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

    Note

    Spenser could still write it in 1596. In The Faerie Queene a woman "her selfe vppon the land / She did prostrate," meaning on the ground before her. The use is now obsolete. Modern writing says ground or floor, and a reader today would take land to mean dry land instead. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Edmund Spenser used this sense in the part of The Faerie Queene first published in 1596. gutenberg.org
    • The quotation is exact and describes Britomart prostrating herself on the ground or floor. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    frightnouncolloquialIrelandcountable or uncountable

    A sudden shock or fright.

    The thunderclap gave the children a terrible land.

    He got an awful land when the lights suddenly went out.

    UsageGet a land or give someone a land, often with awful or terrible: he got an awful land.

    Similarfright, shock, scare, turn, start (entry)

    Note

    An Irish colloquialism, it shares its origin with the word for ground but carries none of that meaning. Outside Irish speech it is likely to be misread, so it suits dialogue and informal writing rather than general prose. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Land meaning a shock or fright is an Irish colloquialism. en.wiktionary.org
    • The fright sense shares the etymology of land meaning ground; Wiktionary places both under Etymology 1. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    apartment buildingnoundialectalhistoricalScotlandcountable or uncountable

    A set of tenements or dwellings housed under one roof and reached through a shared entrance.

    Each land along the close rose six stories above the narrow street.

    In the Edinburgh of the 1700s, a single fire could sweep through a crowded land and leave dozens of families homeless.

    Similartenement

    Note

    In historical Scottish usage, a land is a building rather than ground: one tall block of dwellings under a single roof, with every household reached through the same entry. It is countable, as in each land along a close, and it appears in writing about older Scottish towns. Readers elsewhere may take it for a plot, so context should make the building clear. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Historically in Scotland, land could mean a building containing dwellings under one roof with a shared entrance. en.wiktionary.org
    • Land is countable in this sense and can describe a tall dwelling block situated along a close. en.wikisource.org
    • The countable building sense appears in historical writing about Scottish towns. gutenberg.org
23. 23
    noun

    The non-flight parts of a travel itinerary, such as hotels, tours, and cruises.
24. 24
    noun

    On a surface cut with grooves, pits or indentations, such as a millstone, the inside of a rifled gun barrel or a compact disc, the raised or flat part left between them.
25. 25
    noun

    A conductive area on a circuit board or chip used for connecting wires.
26. 26
    noun

    The raised ground left unplowed between two furrows.
27. 27
    noun

    Any of the sections into which a field is divided for plowing.
28. 28
    noun

    In a clinker-built boat, the overlap of one strake over the next; in an iron vessel, the overlap of plates; also called landing.