Definition of "earth" in English

name

1. Alternative letter-case form of Earth; our planet, third out from the Sun.

   • The astronauts saw the earth from the porthole.

noun

1. (uncountable) Soil.

   • This is good earth for growing potatoes.

2. (uncountable) Any general rock-based material.

   • She sighed when the plane's wheels finally touched earth.

3. The ground, land (as opposed to the sky or sea).

   • Birds are of the sky, not of the earth.

4. (British) A connection electrically to the earth ((US) ground); on equipment: a terminal connected in that manner.

5. The lair or den (as a hole in the ground) of an animal such as a fox.

6. A region of the planet; a land or country.

7. Worldly things, as against spiritual ones.

8. The world of our current life (as opposed to heaven or an afterlife).

9. (metonymic) The people on the globe.

10. Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an exoplanet viewed as another earth, or a potential one.

    • New space telescopes may accelerate the search for other earths that may be out there.

11. (archaic) The human body.

12. (alchemy, philosophy and Taoism) The aforementioned soil- or rock-based material, considered one of the four or five classical elements.

13. (chemistry, obsolete) Any of certain substances now known to be oxides of metal, which were distinguished by being infusible, and by insolubility in water.

verb

1. (UK, transitive) To connect electrically to the earth.

   • That noise is because the amplifier is not properly earthed.

2. (transitive) To bury.

3. (transitive) To hide, or cause to hide, in the earth; to chase into a burrow or den.

4. (intransitive) To burrow.