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land

[land]
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noun
  1. any part of the earth's surface not covered by a body of water; the part of the earth's surface occupied by continents and islands: Land was sighted from the crow's nest.
  2. an area of ground with reference to its nature or composition: arable land.
  3. an area of ground with specific boundaries: to buy land on which to build a house.
  4. rural or farming areas, as contrasted with urban areas: They left the land for the city.
  5. Law.
    1. any part of the earth's surface that can be owned as property, and everything annexed to it, whether by nature or by the human hand.
    2. any legal interest held in land.
  6. Economics. natural resources as a factor of production.
  7. a part of the surface of the earth marked off by natural or political boundaries or the like; a region or country: They came from many lands.
  8. the people of a region or country
  9. Audio. the flat surface between the grooves of a phonograph record.
  10. a realm or domain: the land of the living.
  11. a surface between furrows, as on a millstone or on the interior of a rifle barrel.
  12. Scot. a tenement house.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to bring to or set on land: to land passengers or goods from a ship; to land an airplane.
  2. to bring into or cause to arrive in a particular place, position, or condition: His behavior will land him in jail.
  3. Informal. to catch or capture; gain; win: to land a job.
  4. Angling. to bring (a fish) to land, or into a boat, etc., as with a hook or a net.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to come to land or shore: The boat lands at Cherbourg.
  2. to go or come ashore from a ship or boat.
  3. to alight upon a surface, as the ground, a body of water, or the like: to land on both feet.
  4. to hit or strike the ground, as from a height: The ball landed at the far side of the court.
  5. to strike and come to rest on a surface or in something: The golf ball landed in the lake.
  6. to come to rest or arrive in a particular place, position, or condition (sometimes followed by up): to land in trouble; to land up 40 miles from home.
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Verb Phrases
  1. land on, Informal. to reprimand; criticize: His mother landed on him for coming home so late.
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Idioms
  1. land/fall on one's feet, feet(def 3).
  2. see how the land lies, to investigate in advance; inform oneself of the facts of a situation before acting: You should see how the land lies before making a formal proposal.Compare lay of the land.
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Origin of land

before 900; Middle English (noun and v.), Old English (noun); cognate with Dutch, German, Old Norse, Gothic land; akin to Irish lann, Welsh llan church (orig. enclosure), Breton lann heath. See lawn1
Related formsland·like, adjectivere·land, verbun·der·land, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for lands

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • They were the heroes of other lands; but have we not heroes also of our own?

  • In close connexion with the Survey and Lands Department is the topic of exploration.

  • Many were the messages of regard and condolence that came from other lands.

    The Grand Old Man

    Richard B. Cook

  • She lies athwart the lands, and her shadow is over the seas.

    The White Company

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Just now you spoke of your Essex lands in the fair Vale of Dedham as gone.

    Fair Margaret

    H. Rider Haggard

British Dictionary definitions for lands

lands

pl n
  1. holdings in land
  2. Southern African the part of a farm on which crops are grown
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land

noun
  1. the solid part of the surface of the earth as distinct from seas, lakes, etcRelated adjective: terrestrial
    1. ground, esp with reference to its use, quality, etc
    2. (in combination)land-grabber
  3. rural or agricultural areas as contrasted with urban ones
  4. farming as an occupation or way of life
  5. law
    1. any tract of ground capable of being owned as property, together with any buildings on it, extending above and below the surface
    2. any hereditament, tenement, or other interest; realty
    1. a country, region, or area
    2. the people of a country, etc
  7. a realm, sphere, or domain
  8. economics the factor of production consisting of all natural resources
  9. the unindented part of a grooved surface, esp one of the ridges inside a rifle bore
  10. how the land lies the prevailing conditions or state of affairs
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verb
  1. to transfer (something) or go from a ship or boat to the shoreland the cargo
  2. (intr) to come to or touch shore
  3. to come down or bring (something) down to earth after a flight or jump
  4. to come or bring to some point, condition, or state
  5. (tr) angling to retrieve (a hooked fish) from the water
  6. (tr) informal to win or obtainto land a job
  7. (tr) informal to deliver (a blow)
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See also lands, land up, land with
Derived Formslandless, adjectivelandlessness, noun

Word Origin

Old English; compare Old Norse, Gothic land, Old High German lant

Land1

noun
  1. Edwin Herbert. 1909–91, US inventor of the Polaroid Land camera
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Land2

noun plural Länder (ˈlɛndər)
    1. any of the federal states of Germany
    2. any of the provinces of Austria
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lands

land

n.

Old English land, lond, "ground, soil," also "definite portion of the earth's surface, home region of a person or a people, territory marked by political boundaries," from Proto-Germanic *landom (cf. Old Norse, Old Frisian Dutch, German, Gothic land), from PIE *lendh- "land, heath" (cf. Old Irish land, Middle Welsh llan "an open space," Welsh llan "enclosure, church," Breton lann "heath," source of French lande; Old Church Slavonic ledina "waste land, heath," Czech lada "fallow land").

Etymological evidence and Gothic use indicates the original sense was "a definite portion of the earth's surface owned by an individual or home of a nation." Meaning early extended to "solid surface of the earth," which had been the sense of the root of Modern English earth. Original sense of land in English is now mostly found under country. To take the lay of the land is a nautical expression. In the American English exclamation land's sakes (1846) land is a euphemism for Lord.

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land

v.1

"to bring to land," early 13c., from land (n.). Originally of ships; of fish, in the angling sense, from 1610s; hence figurative sense of "to obtain" (a job, etc.), first recorded 1854. Of aircraft, attested from 1916. Related: Landed; landing.

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land

v.2

"to make contact, to hit home" (of a blow, etc.), by 1881, perhaps altered from lend in a playful sense, or else an extension of land (v.1).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with lands

land

In addition to the idioms beginning with land

  • land in
  • land on
  • land up

also see:

  • cloud-cuckoo land
  • fall (land) on one's feet
  • fat of the land
  • la-la land
  • lay of the land
  • never-never land
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.