ˈvantage-ground
[vantage n. 7.]
A position which places one at an advantage for defence or attack.
Freq. in 19th cent., chiefly in fig. use.
| 1612 Bacon Ess., Of Great Place (Arb.) 282 That cannot be without power and place; as the vantage and commanding ground. 1625 ― Of Truth (Arb.) 500 No pleasure is comparable, to the standing vpon the vantage ground of Truth. 1644 Waller in Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. (1888) 301, I moved not till I had full assurance..that the enemy was clearly gone, lest it might have been but a feint to draw me from my vantage ground. 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 170 But I quit the vantage ground on which I stand, and where I might leave the burthen of the proof upon him. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. (Bohn) 164, I am convinced that for the human soul to prosper in rustic life a certain vantage-ground is pre-requisite. 1830 Herschel Study Nat. Phil. ii. vi. 173 A means of fresh attack with new vantage ground. 1878 Maclear Celts i. 10 Making the Greek colony of Massilia..her vantage-ground. |