lands

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of land.

   The empire's distant lands paid tribute to the crown each year.

   Settlers pushed westward in search of fertile lands to farm.

   Note

   A plural that picks out the countable senses of land: territories, regions, and estates held as separate holdings. Mass uses, such as land as ground or soil (buying land, good farming land), stay singular. The plural therefore usually signals distinct places rather than more earth: distant lands, ancestral lands, the lands of a crown. Even fertile lands, which still points to soil, means several separate tracts.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of land.

   The jet lands smoothly despite the strong crosswind.

   Whenever she jumps from the wall, she lands gracefully on both feet.

   Note

   The verb form that follows a singular subject serves both sides of land's grammar. Used intransitively, something lands on a surface or a shore (the jet lands). Used transitively, someone lands a thing: they bring it to land or, informally, capture someone. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, so position decides. After a determiner it is a noun (the lands); after a subject it is a verb (the plane lands).

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