ground

ground¹

—groundable, adj. —groundably, adv. —groundedly, adv. —groundedness, n. —groundward, groundwards, adv., adj.

/grownd/, n.

1. the solid surface of the earth; firm or dry land: to fall to the ground.

2. earth or soil: stony ground.

3. land having an indicated character: rising ground.

4. Often, grounds. a tract of land appropriated to a special use: picnic grounds; a hunting ground.

5. Often, grounds. the foundation or basis on which a belief or action rests; reason or cause: grounds for dismissal.

6. subject for discussion; topic: Sex education is forbidden ground in some school curricula.

7. rational or factual support for one's position or attitude, as in a debate or argument: on firm ground; on shaky ground.

8. the main surface or background in painting, decorative work, lace, etc.

9. Fine Arts.

a. a coating of some substance serving as a surface for paint, ink, or other media in art: Lead white is a traditional ground for oil paintings.

b. See ground color (def. 2).

10. (in perception) the background in a visual field, contrasted with the figure.

11. Also called etching ground. an acid-resistant substance, composed of wax, gum, and resin in varying proportions, applied to the entire surface of an etching plate and through which the design is drawn with an etching needle.

12. grounds, dregs or sediment: coffee grounds.

13. grounds, the gardens, lawn, etc., surrounding and belonging to a building.

14. Elect. a conducting connection between an electric circuit or equipment and the earth or some other conducting body.

15. Music. See ground bass.

16. Naut. the bottom of a body of water.

17. the earth's solid or liquid surface; land or water.

18. Carpentry.

a. a strip of wood to which woodwork can be attached, set flush with the plaster finish of a room.

b. a strip of wood or length of corner bead used at an opening as a stop for plasterwork.

19. break ground,

a. to plow.

b. to begin excavation for a construction project.

c. to begin upon or take preparatory measures for any undertaking.

20. cover ground,

a. to pass or travel over a certain area.

b. to make a certain amount of progress in dealing with a piece of work, subject, treatise, or the like: He talked for two hours without covering much ground.

21. cut the ground from under, to render (an argument, position, person, etc.) ineffective or invalid; refute: It didn't require much effort to cut the ground from under that case.

22. from the ground up,

a. gradually from the most elementary level to the highest level: She learned the business from the ground up.

b. extensively; thoroughly: The professor knew his subject from the ground up.

23. gain ground,

a. to make progress; advance.

b. to gain approval or acceptance: The case for air-pollution control is gaining ground throughout the country.

24. give ground, to yield to force or forceful argument; retreat: The disarmament talks reached an impasse when neither side would give ground on inspection proposals.

25. hold or stand one's ground, to maintain one's position; be steadfast: The referee stood his ground, though his decision was hotly contested by the crowd.

26. into the ground, beyond a reasonable or necessary point: You've stated your case, and you needn't run it into the ground.

27. lose ground,

a. to retreat or be forced back.

b. to lose one's advantage; suffer a reverse.

c. to wane in popularity or acceptance; begin to fail: Our candidate is losing ground in industrial areas.

28. off the ground, Informal. into action or well under way: The play never got off the ground.

29. on one's own ground, in an area or situation that one knows well.

30. on the ground, at the place of interest or importance; actively engaged: Minutes after the bank robbery reporters were on the ground to get the story.

31. shift ground, to change position in an argument or situation.

32. suit down to the ground, to be perfectly satisfactory; please greatly: This climate suits me down to the ground.

33. take the ground, Naut. to become grounded at low water.

34. to ground,

a. into a den, burrow, shelter, or the like: a fox gone to ground.

b. into concealment or hiding: Rather than take the witness stand, she went to ground in another country.

adj.

35. situated on or at, or adjacent to, the surface of the earth: a ground attack.

36. pertaining to the ground.

37. Mil. operating on land: ground forces.

v.t.

38. to lay or set on the ground.

39. to place on a foundation; fix firmly; settle or establish; found.

40. to instruct in elements or first principles: to ground students in science.

41. to furnish with a ground or background, as on decorative work.

42. to cover (wallpaper) with colors or other materials before printing.

43. Elect. to establish a ground for (a circuit, device, etc.).

44. Naut. to cause (a vessel) to run aground.

45. Aeron. to restrict (an aircraft or the like) to the ground because of bad weather, the unsatisfactory condition of the aircraft, etc.

46. to forbid (a pilot) to fly because of bad health, failure to comply with safety regulations, or the like.

47. Informal. to put out of action or make unable to participate: The quarterback was grounded by a knee injury.

48. Informal. to restrict the activities, esp. the social activities, of: I can't go to the party - my parents have grounded me until my grades improve.

v.i.

49. to come to or strike the ground.

50. Baseball.

a. to hit a ground ball.

b. to ground out.

51. ground out, Baseball. to be put out at first base after hitting a ground ball to the infield.

[bef. 900; (n.) ME grownd, grund, OE grund; c. D grond, G Grund; (v.) ME grundien, grownden to set on a foundation, establish, deriv. of the n.]

ground²

/grownd/, v.

1. a pt. and pp. of grind.

adj.

2. reduced to fine particles or dust by grinding.

3. (of meat, vegetables, etc.) reduced to very small pieces by putting through a food processor or grinder: ground beef.

4. having the surface abraded or roughened by or as if by grinding, as in order to reduce its transparency: ground glass.

[1755-65 for def. 2; see GROUND¹]

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▪ electronics

      in electricity, electrical contact with the Earth, which remains essentially at a constant potential. A grounded wire on a lightning rod leads large electric charges from the atmosphere directly to Earth, preventing them from taking other paths that might result in damage to property or injury to persons. Since people are themselves often grounded (standing on a moist basement floor or leaning against, or otherwise in contact with, metallic plumbing), interior wiring systems have one wire connected to ground to minimize accidents to persons and fire damage in case of lightning, transformer failures, or insulation breakdown in wiring. Metallic boxes and other conductor enclosures are grounded, so that even in case of insulation breaks any parts that can be touched will be at ground potential and unable to give shock. Portable electrical appliances are frequently provided with a grounding connection to minimize danger of electric shock.

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