▪ I. land, n.1
(lænd)
Forms: 1– land; also 1, 3–5 7 lond, 4–6 londe, 4–7 lande, (3 loande, 4 loond, lont, 5 lonnde, lannde, 8–9 Sc. lan, lan').
[Com. Teut.: OE. land, lǫnd str. neut. = OFris. land, lond, OS. (Du., LG.) land, OHG. lant (MHG. lant, land-, mod.G. land), ON. (Sw., Da.) and Goth. land:—OTeut. *lando{supm}, cogn. w. OCeltic *landā fem. (Irish land, lann enclosure, Welsh llan enclosure, church, Cornish lan, Breton lann heath), whence the F. lande, heath, moor. The pre-Teut. *londh- is not evidenced in the other Aryan langs., but an ablaut-variant *lendh- appears in OSl. lędina heath, desert (Russian lyada, lyadina), and in MSw., mod.Sw. linda waste or fallow land.]
I. The simple word.
1. a. The solid portion of the earth's surface, as opposed to sea, water. Cf. firm land (see firm a. 8), dry land. † Occas. classed as one of the ‘elements’ = earth n.1 14. Often in phr. to land, on land (cf. aland), by land (in quot. 1841 transf.); also † at land = on land, ashore.
| Beowulf 1623 Com þa to lande lidmanna helm swiðmod swymman. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. iii. (1890) 104 Seo is moniᵹra folca ceapstow of londe & of sæ cumendra. c 1205 Lay. 117 On Italiȝe he com on lond. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 103 It hiled al ðis werldes drof, And fier, and walkne, and water, and lond. c 1300 Havelok 721 Fro londe woren he bote a mile. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 322 Þe barrez of vche a bonk ful bigly me haldes, Þat I may lachche no lont. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 266 Nouþer suld werri bi lond, no in water bi schip. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's Prol. 29 Ye seken lond and see for yowre wynnynges. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) i. 6 He may go by many Weyes, bothe on See and Londe. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 13 It is most pleasaunte rowynge nere the land, and walkynge nere the sea. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 7 To hunt out perilles..By sea, by land, where so they may be mett. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies ii. xi. 107 We feele greater heat at land then at sea. Ibid. iii. ii. 118 It behooves vs now to treate of the three elements, aire, water and land. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 122, I not doubt He came aliue to Land. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 337 His Omnipresence fills Land, Sea, and Aire. 1675 tr. Machiavelli's Prince xii. (1883) 82 They began to enterprise at land. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. viii, I fairly descry'd Land, whether an Island or a Continent, I could not tell. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. vii. xiii, And now, all in my own countree, I stood on the firm land! 1841 F. A. Kemble Rec. Later Life (1882) II. 142 At the beginning of railroad travelling, persons who preferred posting on the high road were said to go by land. 1849–50 Alison Hist. Europe VIII. 628 All the great defeats of France at land have come from England. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i. (1877) 44, I was never afraid..to speak my mind to them, by sea or land. |
b. Nautical phrases.
† to take land: to come to land; to land, go ashore.
land to: just within sight of land, when at sea.
† to raise land: to sail with the land just within sight.
to lay the land: to lose sight of land.
† to set (the) land: to take the bearings of land.
land ho! a cry of sailors when first sighting land.
land shut in (see
quot. 1753).
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 59 Whan þe kyng wist, þat þei had taken land. c 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 551 Quhill thai..On vest half, toward Dunfermlyne, Tuk land. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xlii. 528 They..aryuyd at the porte of Marseyle there they toke londe. 1611 Cotgr., Surgir, to arriue, take land, goe ashore. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 43 One to the top to looke out for land, the man cries out Land to; which is iust so farre as a kenning, or a man may see the land. And to lay a land is to saile from it iust so farre as you can see it. 1633 T. James Voy. 28 We hull'd off, North North-East, but still raised land. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 21 When we set Land, some this, some that do guess. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Land shut in, at sea. When another point of land hinders the sight of that which a ship came from, then they say the land is shut in. Setting the Land, at sea, is observing by the compass how it bears. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Terre qui fuit, double-land, or land shut in behind a cape or promontory. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iv. 8 A man on the forecastle called out ‘Land ho!’ |
c. Phr.
how the land lies: primarily
Naut. (see
quot. a 1700); now chiefly
fig. = what is the state of affairs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, How lies the Land? How stands the Reckoning? 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. vii. (Rtldg.) 14 Several gentlemen..had a mind to feel how the land lay. 1870 M. Bridgman Ro. Lynne I. vii. 99 Uncle Charles's eyes had discovered how the land lay as regarded Rose and himself. |
† d. A tract of land. Also
transf. of ice.
Obs.| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. x. 153 There is a straight and a long and stretched out land on eyther side. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. To Rdr., A large Bay or inlet of the Sea,..entering in betwixt two lands. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 139 Captain Luke Fox in his North-West Discoveries..complained fearfully of the fast Lands of Ice upon those Coasts. |
2. a. Ground or soil,
esp. as having a particular use or particular properties. Often with defining word, as
arable land,
corn-land,
plough-land,
stubble land.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cvii. 37 And seowun lond & plantadon winᵹeardas. a 1050 Liber Scintill. x. (1889) 51 Færlic & swiðlic storm on hryre landu [L. arua] forhwyrfð. c 1050 Supp. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 177/11 Seges, ᵹesawen æcer vel land. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 35 Lond wel eerid and wel dungid. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 8 Tilynge is vs to write of euery londe. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 796 Hec bovata, a hoxgangyn lond... Hec virgata, a eryd lond. Hic selis, a ryggyd lond. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 64 While the Plowman neer at hand, Whistles ore the Furrow'd Land. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 605 And from the marshy Land Salt Herbage for the fodd'ring Rack provide. 1727–52 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Mushroom, They are never found but on burnt lands. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 283 In England, the land is rich, but coarse. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab v. 8 Loading with loathsome rottenness the land. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 593 The land to a great extent round his pleasure grounds was in his own hands. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 616 The conversation was almost exclusively confined to the topics of steam-boats,..black-land, red-land, bottom-land, timber-land [etc.]. |
† b. poet. = ground in various senses.
Obs.| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 203 (Gr.) Inc is..wilde deor on ᵹeweald ᵹeseald & lifiᵹende, ða ðe land tredað. 14.. Fencing w. Two Handed Sword in Rel. Ant. I. 309 Fresly smyte thy strokis by dene, And hold wel thy lond that hyt may be sene. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. vii. 7 Her selfe uppon the land She did prostrate. 1716 Pope Iliad vii. 18 He..roll'd, with Limbs relax'd, along the Land. |
3. a. A part of the earth's surface marked off by natural or political boundaries or considered as an integral section of the globe; a country, territory. Also put for the people of a country.
(Sometimes defined by a phrase containing the name of the country or stating one of its prominent characteristics or products, as
the land of Egypt,
the land of the midnight sun,
the land of the chrysanthemum, etc.
Cf. b and c.)
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 1995 Territorium, lond. a 900 O.E. Chron. an. 787 (Parker MS.) Þæt wæron þa ærestan scipu Deniscra monna þe Angel cynnes lond ᵹesohton. 971 Blickl. Hom. 197 Þonne is seo cirice on Campania þæs landes ᵹemæro. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1132 (Laud MS.) Ðis ᵹear com Henri king to þis land. c 1205 Lay. 1244 Albion hatte þat lond. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10154 He sende to alle þe bissopes of þis lond is sonde. a 1300 Cursor M. 3766 Þis esau..Oute o þe land did iacob chace. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 936 In Iudy londe. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxi. 33 Abymalech..and Phicol..turneden aȝen into the loond of Palestynes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13932, I haue faryn out of fere lannd my fader to seche. 14.. Sir Beues 2327 (MS. M.) All the lond after hem drowȝe Armyd with good harnes inouȝe. 14.. Dyal. Gent. & Husb. in Rede me, etc. (Arb.) 148 God left neuer lande yet vnpunished which agaynst his worde made resistence. c 1450 Merlin 26 Vortiger..often tyme faught so with them that he drof hem oute of hys londe. 1535 Coverdale Exod. iii. 8 To carye them out of that londe, in to a good and wyde londe, euen in to a londe that floweth with mylke and hony. 1611 Bible Josh. ii. 1 Go, view the land, euen Iericho. ― Isa. ix. 1 When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. 1629 Milton Hymn Nativity 221 He feels from Juda's Land The dredded Infants hand. 1697 Dryden æneis vii. 148 These Answers in the silent Night receiv'd The King himself divulg'd, the Land believ'd. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 51 Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell v. xv, He made songs for all the land Sweet both to feel and understand. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 279 In our own land, the national wealth has, during at least six centuries, been almost uninterruptedly increasing. |
| fig. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 439 Her bare brest, the heart of all her land. 1595 ― John iv. ii. 245 In the body of this fleshly Land, This kingdome, this Confine of blood, and breathe. |
b. Phrases.
law of the land (
† land's law: see
land-law 1): see
law n.1 land of promise († promission, † repromission, † behest),
promised land: see
promise n., etc.
land of cakes (
Sc.): see
cake n. 1 b. See also
Holy Land.
| c 1300 [see behest n. 1]. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 1 Þe land of repromission, þat men calles þe Haly Land. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1612 Duke Iosue..Ledynge the Isrehelytes to the lande of promyssyon. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1760) II. xxiv. 271 The Lowlanders call their part of the Country the Land of Cakes. a 1846 J. Imlah Song, Land o' Cakes, An' fill ye up and toast the cup, The land o' cakes for ever. |
c. fig. = Realm, domain.
land of the leal (
Sc.): the realm of the blessed departed, heaven.
land of the living: the present life.
in the land of the living (a Hebraism): alive.
land of Nod: see
nod.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cxiv. 9 In londe lifᵹendra. c 1230 Hali Meid. 13 Iþis world þat is icleopet lond of unlicnesse. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.) 637/22 Ye shal not with-outen Strif fro this world passe to þe lond of lyf. 1611 Bible Jer. xi. 19 Let vs cut him off from the land of the liuing. 1671 Milton Samson 99 As in the land of darkness yet in light, To live a life half dead, a living death. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 313 In the Land of Nature we are often out of our Knowledge. 1798 Lady Nairne Song, The Land of the Leal, I'm wearin' awa' John,..To the land o' the leal. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) vi. Introd. 116 You'd better have sent out Jedidiah Buxton if he is still in the land of the living. 1819 J. Hodgson in Raine Mem. (1857) I. 223, I was frequently travelling in the Land of Nod. 1836 Irving Astoria I. 129 They dug a grave..in which they deposited the corpse, with a biscuit..and a small quantity of tobacco, as provisions for its journey in the land of spirits. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 10 There are unseen lands of knowledge and truth beyond the present. |
† d. In
ME. poetry used vaguely in certain expletive phrases:
on land or
in land,
to come to land.
Cf. similar uses of
town.
Obs.| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 65 To eni monne þet is on londe. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 46 Þritti winter and þridde half ȝer, Haui woned in londe her. c 1320 Cast. Love 551 Maken I chulle Pees to londe come,..And sauen al þe folk in londe. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2793 Welawo to longe y lyue in londe. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 176 His steede..gooth an Ambil in the way Ful softely and rounde In londe. |
¶ e. U.S. Substituted euphemistically for Lord, in phrases
the land knows,
Good land! Also,
(for the) land's sake,
land sakes,
my land(s).
| 1846 Knickerbocker XXVII. 18 (Th.), Jedediah, for the land's sake, does my mouth blaze? 1848 J. F. Cooper Oak Openings I. v. 82 Land's sake! I've forgotten all about them barrels! 1849 Miss Warner Wide wide World xiv, ‘But what are they called turnpikes for?’ ‘The land knows—I don't’. 1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine xvi. 223 For land's sake dont tell Tempest. 1863 A. D. Whitney Faith Gartney's Girlhood ii. 12 Land sakes, Miss Faith! I don't know what you mean. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Yankee Crt. K. Arthur xi. 110 Good land! a man can't keep his functions regular on spring chickens thirteen hundred years old. 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. XLVII. 337/2 My lan', what de reason 't ain't enough? 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xiv. 141 ‘For the land's sake!’ gasped Marilla... ‘I believe the child is crazy.’ 1913 A. Huxley Let. 30 July (1969) 51 The Americans..say Gee, whiz, bully, my lands, my soul, [etc.]. 1916 A. Bennett Lion's Share xlv. 350 ‘My land!’ exclaimed Nick. ‘If he sees me here he'll think I've come on purpose to talk about him.’ 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 50 Land sakes, it gives me the creeps to think of it. 1952 V. Wilkins King Reluctant i. iii. 45 But land's sake, how did he get into dat ole lonesome graveyard? 1974 K. Benton Craig & Tunisian Tangle xiii. 180 We've only got another week, for land's sake. |
4. a. Ground or territory as owned by a person or viewed as public or private property; landed property. (
common land,
concealed land,
copyhold land,
debatable land,
demesne land,
fabric land,
fiscal land or lands: see the defining words. Also
bond-land,
crown-land 1.)
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 51 Þa teoþan sceattas..ᵹe on lande, ᵹe on oþrum þingum. c 1205 Lay. 3914 His lond he huld half ȝer. a 1300 Cursor M. 4033 To dele þair landes þam betuixs þat aiþer might þam ald wit his. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 295 Laborers that haue no lond to liuen on bote heore honden. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 579 Worthy to been stywardes of rente and lond Of any lord that is in Engelond. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 72 Borne to great land, treasure, and substaunce. 1587 Lady Stafford in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 209 They have recovered their land, with the Arrerages. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 113 This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of Land. 1611 Bible 2 Kings viii. 3 She went foorth to crie vnto the king for her house, and for her land. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §1 A convenient house with a hundred acres of land adjoining to it. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 142 He had no intention of depriving the English colonists of their land. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 12 Some one will say that he is beyond question rich, who owns a great deal of land. |
b. pl. Territorial possessions.
† Also
rarely in
sing., a piece of landed property, an estate in land.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1885) I. 192 Feower land he forᵹeaf forð In mid him ælþeodiᵹum to andfencge and to ælmes-dædum. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1843 Ðor him solde an lond kinge emor. c 1330 Spec. Gy Warw. 163 Þouh man haue muche katel As londes, rentes, and oþer god. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 86 [He] became..riche..and purchased londes and possessiones. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 423 b note, John Frederick demaundeth his landes and dignities. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. i. 9 All the Temporall Lands which men deuout By Testament haue giuen to the Church. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 143 Who should have your Lands but your heirs? 1787 Burns Poems (1809) II. 101 note, The Earl gave him a four merk land near the castle. 1827 Jarman Powell's Devises II. 135 All his messuages, lands, and tenements. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 84 Considering this grievance more tolerable than..the loss of the public lands. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 130 Their lands had been divided by Cromwell among his followers. |
c. Law. (See
quots.)
| 1628 Coke On Litt. 4 Land in the legall signification comprehendeth any ground, soile or earth whatsoeuer, as meadowes, pastures, woods, moores, waters marishes, furses and heath,..It legally includeth also all castles, houses, and other buildings. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 18 Land hath also, in its legal signification, an indefinite extent, upwards as well as downwards. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 300/1 Land in its most restricted legal signification is confined to arable ground... In its more wide legal signification land extends also to meadow, pasture, woods, moors, waters, &c. |
d. S. Afr. An area of ground under cultivation;
= field n. 4 a. Freq. in
pl.| 1731 G. Medley tr. Kolb's Present State Cape Good-Hope I. xxviii. 357 The Value of the Tenth of the Produce of Lands is computed at 14000 Florins yearly. Ibid. 358 The Colonies are encreasing daily, and daily taking in new Lands for Tillage. 1806 J. Barrow Trav. S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. i. 5 At the feet of the hills..are several pleasant farms, having gardens well stored with vegetables for the table, vineyards, and extensive corn lands. 1896 H. A. Bryden Tales S. Afr. 248 She had..some good tobacco ‘lands’, which yielded no mean profit each year. 1926 O. Schreiner From Man to Man 23 They burnt harpuis bushes on the lands. 1939 tr. E. N. Marais's My Friends the Baboons ix. 112 If he raids a land..he will..hand over to her a share of the mealies or fruit. 1941 S. Cloete Hill of Doves (1942) xxviii. 398 They were riding through a mealie land. 1966 E. Palmer Plains of Camdeboo xviii. 297 Dust enveloped the world. Maurice and Sita could not even see where the lands had been. |
† 5. The country, as opposed to
the town.
on (in, † Sc. to) land: in the country; also, into the country; hence, to distant parts.
Obs.| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xx. [xxviii.] (1890) 246 Byriᵹ & lond & ceastre & tunas & hus. c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxviii. (Z.) 234 Ruri, on lande. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 702 A poure person dwellynge vpon lond. ― Nun's Pr. T. 4069 Swiche a ioye was it to here hem synge,..In sweete accord, My lief is faren in londe. ? a 1400 Plowman's T. 1138 Thou..livest in londe, as a lorell. 1425 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 11/2 Ande at þis be done als wele in borowis as to lande throu al þe realme. c 1470 Henryson Tale of Dog 123 [He] dytis all the pure men up-on-land. 1491 Sc. Acts Jas. IV (1814) II. 226/2 The aulde statutis and ordinances maid of before baith to burghe and to lande. 1513–75–1818 [see burgh b]. a 1800 Jock the Leg in Child Ballads (1894) V. 128 In brough or land. |
6. Expanse of country of undefined extent;
= country 1 b.
rare exc. with qualifying word, as
down-land,
highland,
lowland,
mountain-land, etc.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 130 Leaue your crispe channels, and on this greene-Land Answere your summons. 1784 Cowper Task i. 323 The Ouse, dividing the well-watered land, Now glitters in the sun, and now retires. 1833 Tennyson May Queen iii. 7 And sweet is all the land about, and all the flowers that blow. |
7. One of the strips into which a corn-field, or a pasture-field that has been ploughed, is divided by water-furrows. Often taken as a measure of land-area and of length, of value varying according to local custom.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 58 Feith had first siȝte of hym..And nolde nouȝt neighen hym by nyne londes lengthe. 1522 Will in Market Harboro' Rec. (1890) 211 A lond of barly next the whet lond. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §2 In Kente they haue other maner of plowes, some wyll tourne the sheldbredth at euery landes ende, and plowe all one waye. ― Surv. 38 b, A furlong called Dale furlong y⊇ whiche furlong conteyneth .xxx. landes and two heed landes. a 1550 Merry Jest Mylner Abyngton 77 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 103 The mylners house is nere, Not the length of a lande. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Arepennem, a measure of ground as much as our lande or halfe aker. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 5 To putt ewes into the Carre three weekes before Lady-day, allowing five ewes for a lande. 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 21 To cut down one Land of Corn. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 137/1 Land, or Lond, or Launde, in some places called a Loone, it is as much as two large Buts. 1767 Cries of Blood 7 He went down Campden field..about a land's length. 1786 The Har'st Rig xxv. (1801) 12 O' Gath'rers next, unruly-bands Do spread themsel's athwart the Lands. 1791 Cowper Retirement 421 Green balks and furrowed lands. 1793 Trans. Soc. Arts V. 83 The produce of one land or ridge of each crop. 1817–18 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 114, I made a sort of land with the plough, and made it pretty level at top. 1861 Times 4 Oct. 7/4 Fields laid out in six-yard lands with deep water-furrows for the sake of drainage. |
8. Sc. A building divided into flats or tenements for different households, each tenement being called a ‘house’.
| 1456 Extracts Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872) 111 A land liand of this side the Hau. 1457 Ibid. 116 A land was his faderis liand in the burgh Peblis. 1466 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 26 He conquest a lande within your saide burgh. 1482 Act. Audit. (1839) 107/2 Diuerss housis..lying in the brugh of Edinburgh, on þe north side of þe strete..betuix þe land of Johne patonsone & þe land of Nicol spedy on þe est & west partes. 1555 Sc. Acts Mary (1814) II. 490/2 The annuellar hauand the grownd annuell vpone ony brint land quhilk is or beis reparellit. 1753 W. Maitland Hist. Edin. ii. 140 The Buildings here, elsewhere called Houses, are denominated Lands. 1776 E. Topham Lett. Edin. 27 These buildings are divided by extremely thick partition walls, into large houses, which are called lands, and each story of a land is called a house. Every land has a common stair⁓case. 1780 Arnot Hist. Edin. ii. i. (1816) 185 The houses were piled to an enormous height, some of them amounting to twelve stories. These were called lands. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 68, I showed him down stairs; and just as he turned the corner of the next land, a man came rushing violently by him. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw I. 308 The ‘land’, or block of buildings in which it was placed, formed one side of a little street. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 117, I remember an old ‘land’ in the High Street of Edinburgh. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 238 A certain frail old gentlewoman..who dwelt in the top of a tall land on a strait close. |
9. Technical uses.
a. [
transf. from 7.] The space between the grooves of a rifle bore; also, the space between the furrows of a mill-stone. In wider use,
esp. in
Engin.: an area left between adjacent grooves, holes, or the like in any surface;
e.g. that between the flutes of a twist drill or the grooves of a gramophone record, or the top of a tooth on various metal-cutting tools immediately behind the cutting edge.
b. In a steam-engine, ‘the unperforated portion of the face-plate of a slide-valve’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875).
c. ‘The lap of the strakes in a clincher-built boat. Also called
landing’ (
Ibid.).
| 1854 Chamb. Jrnl. II. 202 These furrows and belts [in the bore of a cannon], technically called lands. 1857 Sir P. De Colquhoun Compan. Oarsman's Guide 28 The lans are where one straik overlaps another. 1864 Daily Tel. 15 June, Some of the ‘lands’ being slightly injured, as might..have been expected with so delicate a system of rifling. 1881 Metal World No. 9. 131 The circular or angular lands and furrows [of a mill-stone]. 1907 J. V. Woodworth Grinding & Lapping ii. 62 The flutes [of the reamers] were milled sharp—without land. Ibid. 63 Cutting the reamer sharp with no lands on the teeth. 1935 H. C. Bryson Gramophone Record iv. 81 The engineer has a table showing the widths and depths of the grooves and the amount of land for various cuts per inch. 1949 Baker & Kozacka Carbide Cutting Tools x. 213 The land is that portion of the tooth which is just behind the cutting edge. 1958 Proc. IRE XLVI. 1063/2 The diffusion regions in the lands of the grooved surface [of the silicon] are then removed in a second step of lapping. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 255 The groove normally used for 78 rpm recordings... About 4 mils land between grooves, and a pitch of the order of 100–150 grooves per inch. 1964 S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes ix. 228 The lands run along the leading edge of the flutes and act as a guide in the hole already drilled. 1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. xi. 97 Studs. These are very useful headless fastening devices which are threaded on both ends, with an unthreaded section (land) in the middle. |
II. Attributive uses and Combinations.
10. General relations.
a. simple
attrib., as
land-belt,
land-boom,
† land-cape,
land certificate,
land claim,
land classification,
land-crescent,
land deal,
land-development,
land distribution,
land-estate,
† land-ground,
land improvement,
land-labour,
land market,
land-mass,
† land-people,
land-price,
land question,
land reclamation,
land reform,
land-rent,
land-revenue,
land room,
land-sculpture,
land-security,
land speculation,
land-spit,
land-strip,
land taxation,
land-tenant,
land-tenure,
land title,
land use,
land utilization,
land-wave,
land-wealth,
land work.
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. viii. 78, I am obliged to follow the tortuous *land-belt. |
| 1891 Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker (1892) 288 There was some rumour of a Napa *land-boom. |
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., *Landcape, an end of land that stretcheth further into the Sea then other parts of the Continent thereabouts. |
| 1838 in Indiana Mag. Hist. (1926) XXII. 451 Gentle had settled that he was to pay in land and made an assignment on a *land certificate. 1967 E. Rudinger Wills & Probate 97 A week or so later he receives from the registry the land certificate, which is substantially the same as the charge certificate, but with the very important difference of having had the details of the mortgage removed from it. |
| 1812 J. McDonogh Papers (1898) 12 They therefore, sir, look forward to you, knowing..your knowledge of their *land claims, to have those claims before Congress. 1949 Minnesota Hist. Mar. 30 The Sioux disputed the German colonists' right to establish land claims on the site. |
| 1930 U.S. Dept. Agric. Yearbk. 1929 39 These considerations point to the need for a public policy of economic *land classificaton. 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 27/7 The report's principal authors were Angus Hill, a specialist in land classification, Professor David Love and Professor Douglas Lacate. |
| 1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 48 The *land-crescent that forms the bay. |
| 1974 Guardian 11 Apr. 1 Mrs Marcia Williams, Mr Wilson's private secretary, said last night she would not resign over the *land deals affair. |
| 1895 Law Times 13 July 254 If the Company is a *Land-development one. |
| 1965 L. Chevalier in Glass & Eversley Population in Hist. iii. 75, I have myself tried to study the evolution of the population in three cantons of Vendée..in terms of *land-distribution and the social and religious structure. 1968 R. A. Lyttleton Mysteries Solar Syst. vi. 213 The configuration of the land-distribution could also have been somewhat different at the time of fall. |
| 1690 Mor. Ess. relat. Pres. Times iii. 41 The Enjoyment of *Land Estates. |
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 4 *Londground by pool or riuer. |
| 1849 Hansard Commons 4 May 1266 An advance of money..under the *Land Improvement Act. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 554/2 The number and amount of loans..under the Land Improvement Acts from 1847 to 1900. 1909 Daily Chron. 14 Sept. 5/6 The other kind of banks are rent charge and land-improvement banks. |
| 1776 Burke Let. 14 Aug., Condemned to *Land Labour at the last Assizes for this County. |
| 1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 5 Standing round; i.e., watching the *land market for values. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. iv. 171 There is evidence indeed for something approaching a land-market in late Anglo-Saxon England. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. i. 16 The probable extension of the *land-masses of Greenland to the Far North. 1881 Judd Volcanoes 287 The land-masses of the globe. |
| c 1440 Eng. Conq. Irel. xxxvii. 91 The *londe-Pepill that crystyn shold be. |
| 1898 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 498/2 Immigrants were pouring into the state, and *land-prices were rising. |
| 1830 Deb. Congress U.S. 26 Feb. 210/1 The final adjustment of the *land question. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. viii. 329 In connection with the land-question, the situation is more complicated. |
| 1881 W. D. Seymour (title) Waste *land reclamation and peasant proprietorship with practical suggestions for the establishment of a land bank in Ireland. 1939 U.S. Dept. Agric. Yearbk. 1938 1171 Land reclamation, making land capable of more intensive use by changing its character, environment, or both through operations requiring collective effort. 1955 Land reclamation [see con amore]. |
| 1940 Economist 6 July 12/2 The *land reform [in Transylvania] which had aroused such bitter protest was admittedly more severe..than in the Old Kingdom. 1955 Times 4 July 8/4 His post in the Tokyo Embassy as an expert on land reform. |
| 1706 in Arbuthnot's Misc. Wks. (1751) II. 192 Paying high Interest for Money, which *Land-rents cannot discharge. 1733 Swift Reasons agst. Settling Tithe of Hemp, etc. Wks. 1761 III. 313 The land-rents of Ireland are computed to about two millions. |
| 1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2472/4 The Office of Receiver of the *Land-Revenues for the Counties of Suffolk and Cambridge. 1800 Asiat. Ann. Reg., Proc. Parl. 15/2 Land revenues to the amount of 191,042l. |
| 1871 Leisure Hour 8 Apr. 223/1 An aeronaut cannot get far enough from the sea in England, and requires all the *land-room of a continent to make his voyage. 1960 Tamarack Rev. xiv. 6 The rough half-moon of islands on the western periphery of the North Atlantic contains under 8,000 square miles of landroom for three and a half million people. |
| 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. vii. 922 A chief element in the progress of *land-sculpture, is geological structure. |
| 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 17 The *Land Security was so uncertain and bad, and it was so troublesome and chargeable getting their Moneys again when they had occasion to use it. |
| 1807 Deb. Congress U.S. 6 Oct. (1852) 605 We made a purchase of a single tract of land together. Perhaps you call that *land speculations. 1848 ‘D. Knickerbocker’ Hist. N.Y. (1850) ii. vii. 121 He was soon permitted to land, and a great land-speculation ensued. 1885 W. D. Howells Rise S. Lapham xx. 366 He's been dabbling in..patent-rights, land speculations. 1974 D. Francis Knock Down xiv. 172 It was like property development and land speculation. You could make a great deal of money without breaking the law. |
| 1865 Sat. Rev. 5 Aug. 182 Two *landspits and three bays are ignored by Van de Velde. |
| 1878 Browning Poets Croisic 10 To that *land-strip waters wash. |
| 1794 D. Robertson Tour through Isle of Man v. 37 Here the oppression of game-laws, *land-taxation, and excise-establishment are utterly unknown. 1883 Peel City Guardian 8 Dec. 4/1 Land Taxation. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 19 May 2/1 The land-taxation proposals of the Budget would affect them. |
| 1543 tr. Act 14 Edw. III, stat. i. c. 3 The heyres executours, and *lande tenauntes of suche ministers and receyuours. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Land tenent. |
| 1876 Digby Real Prop. i. i. §1. 2 The main features of *land-tenure. |
| 1812 J. McDonogh Papers (1898) 11 The people..of Florida are..in a dissatisfied state, arising from this uncertainty in which their *land titles are placed. 1936 Discovery May 131/2 Land titles have taken nearly 20 years or more to prepare. |
| 1935 Ibid. Aug. 223/1 A careful *land use survey. 1961 Listener 7 Sept. 347/2 Recent scientific advance in land-use policy in Africa. 1971 New Scientist 21 Jan. 134/2 We are ahead of most countries in democratic land-use planning. |
| 1935 Discovery Aug. 220/1 *Land Utilisation is the problem of the moment. 1936 Archit. Rev. LXXX. 1 (title) The Land Utilization Survey of Britain: the first part of the report. |
| 1864 R. F. Burton Dahome 35 Gentle ridges..not unlike the wrinkles or *land waves behind S. Paul de Loanda. |
| 1845 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 343 note, So as to lessen the difference in *land-wealth. |
| 1945 R. M. Lockley Islands round Brit. 47 Much of the *landwork is done by hand with rude implements. 1971 Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 13/1 By 1942, the NUS had 1,000 students in its summer landwork camps. |
b. objective and objective genitive, as
land-buyer,
land-catcher,
land-ditching,
land-hirer,
land-hunter,
land-locator,
land-monger,
land-monopolist,
land-nationalization,
land-nationalizer,
land-occupier,
land-planning,
land-proprietor,
land-roller,
land-seeker,
land-speculator,
† land-tilie,
land-tiller,
land-tilling,
land-worker;
land-devouring,
land-eating,
land-scourging,
land-tilling,
land-visiting,
adjs.| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 209 A ledere of louedayes and a *lond biggere. 1598 R. Bernard Terence, Hecyra iii. v, They..are no great land-biers. |
| a 1625 Beaum. & Fl. Wit without M. v. ii, Thou most reverent *land-catcher. |
| 1641 Vicars God in Mount 12 These and such like *Land-devouring enormities. |
| 1806–7 A. Young Agric. Essex (1813) I. 116 *Land-ditching is done at different prices. |
| 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xl. (1884) 315 Walberswick is a decayed port, a victim of the *land-eating sea. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Lande hyrer, redemptor. |
| 1894 Outing (U.S.) June 172 Four or five rough-looking men—evidently *land-hunters. |
| 1816 U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1915) X. 364 Those present *Land Locaters Surveys will hold good until the former can be Established. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 30 May 5/1 The tragedy..occurred..when two land locators..came to grief on the Bear River glacier. |
| 1647 Harvey Schola Cordis vii. 7 The greedy *landmunger. |
| 1798 I. Allen Hist. Vermont 21 The persecutions of the settlers were carried on by the Governor and his *land-monopolists. |
| 1882 A. R. Wallace (title) *Land Nationalization. Its necessity and its aims. |
| 1884 Pall Mall G. 5 Mar. 3/1 One point..will..be seized upon by the *land nationalizers. |
| 1576 Act 18 Eliz. c. 10 §10 All the Inhabitants and *Land-occupiers within the whole Isle. 1829 Southey Sir T. More (1831) II. 135 The relation between land-owner and land-occupier has undergone an unkindly alteration. |
| 1936 Discovery Feb. 49/1 There has been a certain amount of ‘*land-planning’, though not on the scale undertaken in the United States. 1961 E. A. Powdrill Vocab. Land Planning ii. 22 Thus, in administering the same aims of land planning, the instrument used for expressing them differs in the fundamental aspect of policymaking. |
| 1815 L. Simond Tour Gt. Brit. I. 172 The *land-proprietor does not get more than three per cent. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Land-roller, one for leveling ground and mashing clods in getting land into tilth for crops. |
| 1641 Vicars God in Mount 48 Such a *Land-scourging rod. |
| 1845 J. J. Hooper Some Adventures Simon Suggs iii. 37 By the time he had ridden half a mile, he overtook the *land⁓seeker. 1946 C. McWilliams Southern California Country 126 They sold prospective settlers so-called ‘land-seekers' tickets’, under an arrangement whereby the fare could later be applied on the purchase of railroad land. |
| 1798 I. Allen Nat. & Pol. Hist. Vermont 24 Lawyers and *land speculators called on Mr. Allen. 1873 ‘Mark Twain’ & Warner Gilded Age l. 456 He might have been a ‘railroad man’, or a politician, or a land-speculator. 1948 Reader's Digest May 124/1 He was ill-educated, selfmade, an incurable land speculator. |
| c 1205 Lay. 14847 We scullen..wurðen mils liðe wið þa *lond-tilien. |
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. iii. (Skeat) l. 32 Than good *lond-tillers ginne shape for the erthe..to bringe forth more corn. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 804/34 Hic cultor, a londtyllere. 1895 Q. Rev. Apr. 555 The interests of the landowner and the land-tiller became antagonistic. |
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 528 Donge of fowlis is ful necessary To *londtiling. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 140 Ȝe ben wastours..that deuouren That leel *land-tylynge men leelliche byswynken. |
| 1883 C. F. Holder in Harper's Mag. Dec. 107/2 Jumping and *land-visiting fishes. |
| 1887 Andover (Mass.) Rev. VIII. 154 Only the tradesworkers and the *landworkers are specially considered. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 72/3 Land⁓workers in the Thirsk and Easingwold districts of Yorkshire. |
c. instrumental, as
land-penned,
land sheltered,
land surrounded adjs.; similative, as
land-like adj.| 1804 Coleridge Lett. (1895) 470 This [the green on the water], though occasioned by the impurity of the nigh shore..forms a home scene: it is warm and *landlike. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. ciii. 56 We steer'd her toward a crimson cloud That landlike slept along the deep. |
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Aug. 453/1 *Land-penned rivers. |
| 1883 C. A. Moloney W. African Fisheries (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 27 Grassy banks of *land-sheltered waters. |
| 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 479 *Land-surrounded waves. |
11. a. attrib., passing into adj., with the sense: Belonging or attached to, or characteristic of, the land; living, situated, taking place, or performed upon land (as opposed to
water or
sea); terrestrial: as in
land-admiral,
land-army,
land-battery,
land-battle,
land-communication,
land-company,
land-engine,
land-fight,
land-goods,
land-gunner,
† land-herd,
land-journey,
land-life,
land-monster,
land-passage,
land-pilot,
land-plant,
land-power,
land-prospect,
land-siren,
land-soldier,
land-spout,
land-trade,
land-travel,
land-wages,
land-war,
land warfare, etc.
| 1490 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 1. §1 If any Captain..give them not their full Wages..except for Jackets for them that receive Land-wages. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 278 The fields In which dame Cynthia her landheards fed. 1618 Bolton Florus iii. vi. (1636) 191 Impatient of land-life, they launcht againe into their water. 1625 Queries agst. Dk. Buckhm. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 217 Admiral and General in the Fleet of the Sea, and Land-Army. 1625 Purchas (title) Purchas his Pilgrimes contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells. 1630 Wadsworth Pilgr. vi. 51, I intreated him for a commission and patent for a land company in Flanders. 1634 Milton Comus 307 To find out that..Would overtask the best Land-Pilots art. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 488 Their Land-voyage from Pekin to Goa. 1667 Pepys Diary 4 Apr., I made Sir G. Carteret merry with telling him how many Land-admirals we are to have this year. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. To Rdr., A most useful Instrument for all Land and Sea Gunners. 1682 Southerne Loyal Bro. iii. Wks. 1721 I. 44 Curse on these land-syrens! 1694 Lond. Gaz. No. 3023/3 They..are to be provided for in their way as Land-Soldiers are in their march. 1695 Prior Taking Namur 86 The water⁓nymphs are too unkind To Villeroy; are the land-nymphs so? 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 289 Anchoring at sea, remote from all land-prospect. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. I. 395 The nature..of these land spouts. 1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navig. p. vi, Roads for land-communication and carriage. 1817 Parl. Deb. 316 Of the lords of the Admiralty, three of the sea officers, and one of the land lords, were efficient officers. 1822 Specif. Brunel's Patent No. 4683. 3 The common governor usually applied to land engines cannot act regularly at sea. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 335 Being exposed to the fire of the land-batteries as well as of the shipping. 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxxii. X. 665 If the preparations for land-warfare were thus stupendous, those for sea-warfare were fully equal if not superior. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 300 The foliage of land-plants. 1928 Observer 1 Apr. 14/3 Sea-power took the place of land-power in the sixteenth century. 1957 [see geostrategy (geo-)]. 1962 Listener 29 Mar. 543/1 A world which, seen from Moscow, is divided into three or four land masses, and a number of similar areas which can be dominated by land power. |
b. Prefixed to names of animals to indicate that they are terrestrial in their habits, and
esp. to distinguish them from aquatic animals of the same name; as
land-animal,
land-beast,
land-bird,
† land-cormorant,
land-dog,
† land-dove,
land-dragon,
† land-eft,
land-fowl,
land-mammifera,
land-mouse,
land-mollusca (hence
land-molluscan adj.),
† land-pullen,
land-reptile,
land-scorpion,
land-spaniel (also
fig.),
land-toad;
land-beetle, a terrestrial predatory beetle, one of the group
Geadephaga;
land-bug, a bug of the group
Geocores;
land chelonian, a tortoise;
land-cod, a kind of catfish, the mathemeg,
Amiurus borealis (
Cent. Dict.);
land-crocodile,
† (
a) ? meant to designate the
cayman; (
b) the sand-monitor,
Psammosaurus arenarius (
Cent. Dict.);
land-leech, a leech of the genus
Hæmodipsa, abounding in Ceylon;
land-lobster,
† -martin (see
quots.);
land moccasin (see
moccasin 3);
land otter, ‘any ordinary otter of the subfamily
Lutrinæ, inhabiting rivers and lakes, as distinguished from the sea-otter,
Enhydris marina’ (
Cent. Dict.);
land pike, (
a)
= hell-bender 1; (
b) an inferior type of pig;
land-shell, a terrestrial mollusk or its shell;
land-slater, a terrestrial isopod crustacean, a wood-louse;
land-snail, a snail of the family Helicidæ;
land-sole, the common red slug,
Arion rufus;
land-tortoise,
-turtle, any tortoise or turtle of terrestrial habits;
† land-urchin, the hedgehog;
† land-winkle, a snail.
| 1691 Ray Creation (1692) 62 So necessary is it [air] for us and other *Land-Animals. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 217 Besides these mischievous land-animals, the sea..is infested with great numbers of alligators. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 191 Let vs returne now to discourse of other liuing creatures; and first of *land-beasts. |
| 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 888/1 This division into lobes occurs in most of the *land-beetles. |
| 1570 Order for Swans in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 959 The..custome of this Realme..dothe allow to every Owner of such ground..to take one *Land-bird. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. vii. 343 The sea-birds sang as they streamed out into the ocean, and the land-birds as they built among the boughs. |
| c 1865 Circ. Sci. (ed. Wylde) II. 184/1 The Geocores or *Land-bugs. |
| 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 249 The *Land Chelonians. |
| a 1653 G. Daniel Idyll iv. 4 *Land-Cormorants may Challeng them for food. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 159/2 He beareth Azure, the Bresilian *Land Crocodile, proper. |
| 1664 Cotton Scarron. iv. (1715) 69 Curs, Spaniels, Water-dogs, Bandogs, and *Land-dogs. |
| 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 319 Saw some Widgeons, and many *Land-Doves. |
| 1894 Mivart in Cosmopolitan XVI. 344 The enormous *land-dragons that lived by rapine. |
| 1768 G. White Selborne xvii. 49 The water-eft or newt is only the larva of the *land-eft. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 304 If *Land-Fowl gather towards the Water. |
| 1859 Tennent Ceylon I. 302 Of all the plagues which beset the traveller in the rising grounds of Ceylon, the most detested are the *land leeches. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 2/1 Huge ‘*land lobsters’—the ‘robber crab’ of the Pacific Islands. |
| 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 96 The annihilation of certain genera of *land-mammifera. |
| 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Eng. Birds 86 The *Land-martin or Shore-bird: Hirundo riparia. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 403 A certain wel, wherein there keep ordinarily *land-mice. |
| 1836 M. Holley Texas v. 104 *Land and water moccasin..are the only venomous snakes, besides the rattlers, found in Texas. |
| 1881 Nature XXIV. 84 The *land-molluscan fauna of Socotra. |
| 1844 Lee & Frost Ten Yrs. in Oregon vi. 71 Beaver was valued at two dollars per skin,..*land otter at fifty cents. 1947 V. H. Cahalane Mammals N. Amer. 200 The river or land otter has the outline of a small seal or a very big weasel. |
| 1687 R. Blome Present State Isles & Territories in Amer. 56 A *Land-Pike is another strange Reptile, so called from its likeness to that Fish; but instead of Fins, it hath four Feet. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Land-Pike, a Creature in America, like the Fish of the same Name, but having Legs instead of Fins. 1841 Cultivator VIII. 152, I am anxious that he should soon get rid of his land-pikes and alligators. 1842 Ibid. X. 37 Hogs, landpike variety, are so cheap. 1856 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. VII. 716 The Suffolk swine..are of the same descent as the long-nosed, slabsided land pike, so often seen in the highways. 1890 Amer. N. & Q. V. 21/2, I think the term land-pike more frequently designates a thin, lank, half-wild swine. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 507 Hens, and other *land pullen. |
| 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xxviii. 315, I narrowly escaped being bitten by a *land-scorpion. This insect is of the size of a small cray-fish. |
| 1853 Zoologist XI. 4127 In *land-shells..the locality would not be easily surpassed. 1880 A. R. Wallace Isl. Life v. 76 The air-breathing mollusca, commonly called land-shells. |
| 1863 Wood Nat. Hist. III. 632 The *Land-slater (Oniscus asellus). |
| 1729 Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils i. I. 151 A *Land-Snail, incrusted over with..fine Stoney Matter. |
| 1854 Woodward Mollusca ii. 168 The *land-soles occasionally devour animal substances. |
| 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Eng. Dogs §2 (end) *Land spaniels. 1616 Rich Cabinet 55 b, He would proue..a good land-spaniel or setter for a hungry Courtier, to smell him out a thousand pound sute, for a hundred pound profit. 1624 Heywood Captives iv. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Proceed sea⁓gull. Thus land-spaniell; no man can say this is my fishe till he finde it in his nett. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 105 It is only the Rubeth, the *land toad, which has the property of sucking. |
| Ibid. VI. 380 The *land tortoise will live in the water, and..the sea turtle can be fed upon land. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 293 In Mr. Clark's garden were several land-tortoises (Testudo clausa, Say). |
| 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 109 We refresht our selves very well, both with *Land and Sea Turtles. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xxiii. 163 The land-turtle of Surinam is not more than eighteen or twenty inches in length. |
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 973 The hedghoge, or *land urchin. |
| 1601 ― Pliny I. 218 Of the Viper, *Land-winkles or Snailes, and Lizards. |
12. Special combinations:
land abutment, the terminal pier at the landward end of a bridge;
land-agency, the occupation or profession of a land-agent;
land-agent, a steward or manager of landed property; also, an agent for the sale of land, an estate agent;
land-arch, an arch or bridge which spans dry land;
land army, (
a) (see sense 11 a); (
b) a corps of women established in 1917 for work on the land in wartime (in full
Women's Land Army); also
attrib.;
land-base,
-based a., operating from a base on land, as
opp. to one on a ship or water;
† land-bat, a measure of land of varying length;
land-berg ?
nonce-wd. (after
iceberg), an ‘ice-mountain’ on land;
land-blink, an atmospheric glow seen from a distance over snow-covered land in the arctic regions;
† land-board ?
nonce-wd. (after
seaboard), the borders of a country;
† land-born a., native;
land-borne,
a., carried by land, effected over land;
land-breast, the whole frontage formed by the abutment and wing-walls or retaining walls of a bridge;
land-bred,
a., brought up on land (as distinguished from on sea); also, native, indigenous;
land-bridge, (
a) a connection (
usu. prehistoric) between two land masses; (
b) an overland route linking countries more directly than previously,
esp. one used by containerized freight;
† land-carrack, (
a) ? a coasting vessel; (
b)
= land-frigate;
land-cast, an orientation;
land-chain, a surveyor's chain (Simmonds);
† land-coal, coal transported by land;
land-community, joint or common ownership of land;
land-company, a commercial company formed for the exploitation of land;
land-connection = land-bridge a;
land-cook,
U.S., one who ‘cooks’ land for the market;
land cress, a biennial herb of the family Cruciferæ,
Barbarea verna; also, occasionally used for
B. vulgaris;
land district U.S., one of the districts into which a state or territory is divided for matters connected with land;
land-drain (see
quot. 1967); also as
v.; hence
land-draining vbl. n.,
land-drainage;
land-dummier Austral. (see
dummy v. 1); so
land-dummying;
† land-evil, (
a) an epidemic; (
b) ? the falling sickness, epilepsy;
† landfang, holding-ground for an anchor;
land-fast, an attachment on the land for a vessel;
a., firmly attached to the shore;
† land-feather, a bay or inlet;
land fever N. Amer., eager desire for, or excitement about, securing land (
cf. gold-fever);
landfill orig. U.S., the disposal of refuse by burying it under layers of earth; the refuse so disposed of; also
fig.;
† land-fish, (
a) ? fresh-water fish; (
b) a fish that lives on land; hence, an unnatural creature;
land-floe, a sheet of sea-ice extending from the land;
† land-frigate, a harlot, strumpet;
land-fyrd OE. and
Hist., the land force;
land-gift = Bhoodan;
land girl, a member of the Women's Land Army (see
land army (
b) above);
† land-good [
ad. Du. landgoed], a landed estate;
land grant, a grant of land;
spec. attrib. in
land-grant-college U.S., a college set up
orig. under the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, which donated public lands to certain States for the establishment of colleges of agriculture, etc.;
land-honour (see
honour n. 7);
land-horse, the horse on the land-side of a plough;
land-hunger, keen desire for the acquisition of land; hence
land-hungry a.;
land-ice, ice attached to the shore, as distinguished from floe;
† land-ill, an epidemic (
cf. land-evil);
land-jobber, one who makes a business of buying and selling land on speculation; so
land-jobbing;
land-lead, a navigable opening in the ice along the shore;
† land-leak, ? a leak produced in a vessel before starting on a voyage;
land legs, [
cf. sea legs pl.], used to designate the ability to walk comfortably on land after being at sea, in a train, etc.;
land-looker U.S. (see
quot.); also (
obs.), a person claiming to have appraised the land in a given area;
† land-lurch v., to rob of land (see
lurch v.);
† land-male, ‘a reserved rent charged upon a piece of land by the chief lord of the fee, or a subsequent mesne owner’ (Wright
Provinc. Dict. 1857); also
attrib. land-male-book;
† land-march, territory bordering on another country;
land-marker, ‘a machine for laying out rows for planting’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
† land-mate (see
quot.);
† land-mead, a tract of meadow land;
land-mine, (
a) an explosive mine used on land; (
b) a bomb dropped by parachute from an aircraft;
land-mistress = landlady 1;
‖ landnám [
ON. land-nám f. land land, territory +
nám,
f. nema to take]
= land-take;
† land-neck, an isthmus;
† land-oath (see
quot.);
land-office,
U.S. and
Colonial (see
quot. 1855); hence
land-office business, a thriving business, like that done in a land-office in boom times; a ‘roaring trade’;
land-packet U.S. (see
quot.);
land-passage,
† (
a) an isthmus; (
b) passage by land;
† land-peerage (see
quot.);
land-pirate, one who robs on land, a highwayman;
† also, a literary pirate;
landplane, an aircraft which can only operate from land (
opp. seaplane);
land-plaster, ‘rock-gypsum ground to a powder for use as a fertilizer’ (
Cent. Dict.);
† land-pole, the pole or perch;
land-poor a. (
U.S.), poor through owning much land and being unable easily to support the burden of taxation;
land-presser, an apparatus for pressing down the soil;
land-province, ‘a province of the land distinct from others in the assemblage of plants or animals which it contains, or in their distribution’ (Cassell, 1884);
† land-raker (see
foot-land-raker,
s.v. foot n. 35);
land-reeve (see
quot.);
Land Registry, a government department with which titles to or charges upon land must be registered; the building or office in which this department is housed;
land-roll (see
quot.);
Land-Rover,
Landrover [trade name], a sturdy, four-wheel-drive motor vehicle designed
esp. for work in rough or agricultural country;
† land-rush, a landslip;
land sale, (
a) a sale of land; (
b) applied
attrib. to collieries which are worked on a small scale and from which coal is supplied only to the country round;
pl. the coal so disposed of;
land-score,
Hist., a division of land [
repr. OE. landscoru];
† land-scot, a tax on land formerly levied in some parishes for the maintenance of the church;
land-scrip U.S., a negotiable certificate, issued by the
U.S. government or by corporate bodies holding donations of land therefrom, entitling the holder to the possession of certain portions of public land (Webster, 1864);
land-scurvy, scurvy occurring on land, as amongst inmates of workhouses, armies, etc.;
land-sealing, hunting seals on land;
land-sergeant (see
quot. 1893 ); also, the steward of an estate;
land-shark, (
a) one who makes a livelihood by preying upon seamen when ashore; (
b) a land-grabber;
† land-sharking vbl. n. N.Z. (see
quot. 1840)
Obs.;
land-sick a., (
a) sick for the sight of land; (
b)
Naut., (of a ship) impeded in its movements by being close to land; (
c) sick of being on the land; (
d) sick as a result of being on land again after a long sea voyage;
land-slide = landslip; also
fig. (
cf. avalanche),
esp. with reference to a sweeping electoral victory;
† land-speech, a language, tongue;
land-speed, (
a) speed (of an aircraft) relative to the ground; (
b) speed on the ground (
e.g. in a motor vehicle);
† land-stall, a staith or landing-place;
† land-stead a. Colonial, provided with landed property;
land-steward, one who manages a landed estate for the owner;
land-stone, a stone turned up in digging;
land-stool, ?
Sc. = land-stall;
† land-strait, an isthmus;
land-stream, a current in the sea due to river waters;
† land-strife, strife with respect to land, agrarian contention;
land-swarmer,
app. a kind of rocket;
land-swell, the roll of the water near the shore;
land-take [
ON. land-taka], the action of taking land;
spec. with reference to the Norse colonization of Iceland, the land taken by a chief as his province;
land-taxer, one who believes in, or advocates, the taxing of land-values;
land-thief, (
a) one who robs on land or ashore; (
b) a robber of land;
land-tide Sc., ‘the undulating motion of the air, as perceived on a droughty day’ (
Jam.);
land-trash, broken ice near the shore;
† land-turn, a land-breeze;
land-value, the economic value of land in all respects, especially as a basis for rating or taxation; hence
land-valuation;
land-valuer, one whose profession is to examine and declare the value of land or landed estates;
land-waiter = landing-waiter (see
landing vbl. n.);
land-war, (
a) a war waged on land, opposed to a
naval war; (
b) a ‘war’ or contention with respect to land or landed property;
land-warrant U.S. (see
quot. 1858);
land-wash, the wash of the tide near the shore;
† land-water a., amphibious, nondescript;
land wheel, the wheel of a plough that runs on the unploughed land;
† land-wine [
cf. Du. landwijn, G.
landwein], wine of native or home growth;
land wire = land-line 2;
land-worthiness nonce-wd., fitness to travel over land;
land-yacht, a land vehicle similar to a yacht;
land-yard local (see
quot. 1828). Also
land form,
land-ship.
| 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 7 It was composed of twenty Arches, nineteen Piers, and two *Land Abutments. |
| 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. iv. 110 The requirement that he should be experienced in *land-agency, may seem in itself not unreasonable. |
| 1846 Cobden Sp. (1870) I. 354 We know right well that their [landlords'] *land agents are their electioneering agents. |
| 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scotl. IV. 274 The bridge consists of ten arches, one of which is a *land-arch. |
| 1917 Times 4 Aug. 5/4 The work of appealing for the *Women's Land Army will be carried on by the Board of Agriculture. 1918 Times 6 Feb. 3/5 The conditions under which the land army women are recruited have recently been changed. 1940 Punch 19 June 660/1 As soon as you join the Land Army you will find..that you are in the thick of a whole lot of live stock. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger xxv. 275, I could always sack you, George,..and get some of these land army girls. 1974 Country Life 26 Sept. 829/1 One looks..at a model wearing Land Army uniform, or stoops..to peer into an Anderson shelter. |
| 1962 Listener 29 Mar. 540/1 *Land-base missiles and sea-going missiles. |
| 1933 *Land-based [see based pa. pple.]. 1941 Air News May 9 The intrinsic disparity between carrier- and land-based planes. 1960 Times 11 Feb. 11/6 Though land-based missiles can be ‘hardened’..they are still vulnerable to a fairly accurate nuclear attack. 1973 Sci. Amer. May 42/3, 2,500 [nuclear warheads] in land-based missiles. |
| 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire xvii. (1891) 135 The *lande batte or pole of Penbrokshire is in Kemes xij foote..Penbrokshire xj foote. |
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlv. (1856) 420 When first the mass separates from the *land-berg or glacier. |
| 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. iii. 41 The *landblink was now very perceptible; and in the evening we discerned the land itself. |
| 1790 Jefferson Writ. (ed. Ford) V. 229 If Great Britain establishes herself on our whole *land-board [i.e. along the Mississippi]. 1796 ― in Pickering Vocab. U.S. (1816) 170 The position and circumstances of the United States leave them nothing to fear on their land-board. |
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 215 The *land-borne liues safe, the forreine at his ease. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 30 Oct. 12/1 Another class of coal—best selected brights—which are landborne, fetch at the pit mouth 10s. 1934 J. L. Myers in E. Eyre European Civilization I. 156 The profoundly different qualities of sea-borne and land-borne cultures. 1957 Economist 5 Oct. 19/2 Few [Arab states] fear Russian imperialism because, unlike Turkey or Iran, they have never felt the dead-weight of landborne pressure. |
| 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 70 Each of the *Land Breasts are to spread about 25 Feet on each Side of the Bridge. |
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 160 We resemble *Land-bred Novices New brought aboord to venture on the Seas. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 627/2 Whatsoever relickes there were left of the land-bredd people. 1887 F. M. Crawford Paul Patoff I. viii. 273 Till one day the land-bred boaster puts to sea in a Channel steamer. |
| 1897 W. B. Scott Introd. Geol. xx. 353 Fossils of land animals may demonstrate the former existence of *land bridges between regions which have long been separated by water. 1898 W. Turner in Nature 13 Jan. 259/1 A ‘Neolithic land bridge’ was produced..and a free immigration of Neolithic man with his domestic animals became possible. 1911 J. L. Myres Dawn of Hist. vii. 138 Some think..that the Hyksos conquest of Egypt may have been a further adventure along this southern land-bridge. 1941 Manch. Guardian Weekly 26 Sept. 194/4 There is now also a land bridge to Russia through Iran, and the Government is certain to consider whether and when we can give any military aid to Russia by that route. 1950 A. L. Rowse England of Elizabeth ii. 39 He cites the opinion of Master Twyne that a land-bridge once existed between Dover and Calais. 1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 28/1 The Port of Vancouver..put into operation the concept of the ‘Land-Bridge’. Ibid. 32/2 The land bridge concept which foresees Canada being used as a rail-link for containers moving between Europe and the Orient. 1970 Times 2 June (Container Suppl.) p. ii/2 What is this concept, land-bridge? The term refers to the part of a movement from one place to another..consisting of an overland haul between ports. 1973 A. Quinton Nature of Things x. 301 It is generally believed that Britain was connected to the continent of Europe by a land-bridge at some time in the fairly remote past. |
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. ii. 50 Faith, he to night hath boarded a *Land Carract. 1629 Davenant Albovine iii. i, Grim. I must be furnish'd too. Cuny. With a Mistresse? Grim. Yes, inquire me out some old Land-Carack. |
| 1881 Blackmore Christowell l, He turned upon his track..and making a correct *landcast this time, found his way to the fountains of the Taw. |
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Shropsh. (1662) II. 1 One may observe a threefold difference in our English-Coale. 1 Sea-coale..2 *Land-coale, at Mendip, Bedworth, &c. and carted into other Counties. 3 What one may call River or Fresh-water-Coale. |
| 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 85 The historical township is the body of alodial owners who have advanced beyond the stage of *land-community. |
| 1805 Deb. Congress U.S. 30 Jan. (1852) 1044 Having never thought of purchasing any land from the Georgia *land companies. 1833 Knickerbocker I. 283 ‘Look,’ said an old man..to the agent of the land company. 1854 Lowell Jrnl. in Italy Prose Wks. 1890 I. 172 Nothing else but an American land-company ever managed to induce settlers upon territory of such uninhabitable quality. |
| 1876 A. R. Wallace Geogr. Distribution Animals I. iii. xiii. 402 There is no evidence of a former *land-connection between the Australian and Neotropical regions. 1924 J. G. A. Skerl tr. Wegener's Orig. Continents & Oceans ii. 19 The former existence of broad land connections between continents which are widely separated at the present day can scarcely be doubted. 1957 J. K. Charlesworth Quaternary Era II. xxxii. 696 Glaciation seems irreconcilable with a land-connexion, so often suggested, between Australia and South America during Tertiary time. |
| 1807 Edin. Rev. X. 112 How comes it to pass that the American *land⁓cook is cunning enough to carry on his trick. |
| 1856 W. A. Bromfield Flora Vectensis 33 Mr R. Loe of Newchurch tells me it [sc. Barbarea verna] is often substituted by the people of this island [sc. the Isle of Wight] for the common Water Cress, being known by the opposite cognomen of *Land Cress. 1878 Britten & Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-Names 129 Cress, Land. (1) Barbarea præcox, Br... (2) Cardamine hirsuta, L. 1944 W. J. Stokoe Caterpillars Brit. Butterflies 179 Wintercress Barbarea vulgaris..is also known as Yellow Rocket and Land Cress, to distinguish it from Watercress, which, in general appearance, it closely resembles. 1946 Nature 21 Dec. 920/1 Investigations under the Dairy Research Institute have included landcress taint in cream and butter. 1969 Oxf. Bk. Food Plants 152/2 Winter Cress or Land Cress (Barbarea verna), is a useful but rarely-grown salad plant. |
| 1812 Deb. Congress U.S. 9 Dec. (1853) 28 The Board of Commissioners for the western *land district, in the State of Louisiana. 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 257 The State is divided into land districts, which are designated by Congress. 1883 Rep. Indian Affairs (U.S.) 187 An Act to create three additional land districts in the territory of Dakota. |
| 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. 245 When the ditching is done, the next work is to *land-drain the whole fields in such a manner that every part of them may be laid dry. Ibid. 251 In some fields..it is very difficult to tell exactly where to make the land-drains. 1841 J. F. Burke On Land-Drainage 4 Remains have been found of some very ancient land-drains. 1932 Blunden Fall in, Ghosts 9 The trickling land-drain under the culvert did not report the imminence of an enemy. 1967 Gloss. Sanitation Terms (B.S.I.) 6 Land drain, a drain, composed of porous or perforated pipes, laid in a trench filled with gravel, broken stone, or the like, for sub-soil drainage. |
| 1841 J. F. Burke (title) On *land-drainage, subsoil-ploughing and irrigation. 1950 Engineering CLXIX. 143/3 The book should be of great value also to designers of..land-drainage, irrigation and water-supply works. |
| 1841 J. F. Burke On Land-Drainage 35 *Land-draining..should never be undertaken but with a determination to do it effectually. |
| 1880 Gentl. Mag. CCXLVI. 77 The successes and failures of Australian *land-dummiers. |
| Ibid. 76 The fraudulent transaction known as *land-dummying. |
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 360 Þet *lond vuel þat alle londes leien on, & liggeð ȝet monie. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 312/1 Lond ivyl, sekenesse (P. londe euyll), epilencia. |
| 1557 Burrough in Hakluyt (1886) III. 153 Where a ship may ride..in 4 fadome..of water, and haue *Landfange for a North and by West winde. |
| 1703 W. Dampier Voy. III. 36 There is not clean Ground enough for above 3 Ships..One even of these must lie close to the Shore, with a *Land-fast there. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Jan. 6/4 Amundsen's experience in the Arctic has been on shipboard, on land, and on *landfast polar ice. 1973 Nat. Geographic Mar. 350 Anchoring block and tackle to land-fast ice, all strain together to haul the bowhead out of the water. |
| c 1582 Digges in Archæologia XI. 236 The south baye or *landfether of the great sluce. |
| 1839 Picayune (New Orleans) 23 Apr. 2/2 Then came the *land fever, which swept over the country like a pestilence. 1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 4 In the days of the land-fever. 1900 E. B. Osborn Greater Canada 60 Many years passed before the North-West recovered from the commercial lethargy which followed this attack of land-fever. 1946 E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House 16 Then, suddenly the land fever seized them. 1972 J. Minifie Homesteader vi. 40 Many of the harvesters were bitten by the land fever, and filed on land for themselves once the harvest was over. |
| 1942 in Sun (Baltimore) (1944) 10 Feb. 8/1 The so-called sanitary or *land fill [system]. 1953 Richmond (Va.) News Leader 2 Sept. 21 A bulldozer struck water in the landfill dump area. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 20/3 By 1970, it is expected that the majority of the area's dumps and landfill sites will be filled to capacity. 1969 New Yorker 17 May 131/2 We intend to put a lot of landfill in the Credibility Gap. 1971 Pollution: a Review (Greater London Council) 8 The Greater London Council..operates a code of practice for good management of landfill sites under its own control. 1971 Guardian 11 Oct. 3/6 Land⁓fill is considered one of the most economical ways to dispose of refuse. |
| 1419 Liber Albus 221 (Rolls) I. 376 Qui ducit *landfisshe post prandium, bene licet ei hospitari piscem suum, et in crastino ponere piscem suum in foro Domini Regis. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 264 Hee's growne a very land-fish, languagelesse, a monster. |
| 1823 W. Scoresby Jrnl. Voy. Northern Whale-Fishery iv. 101 The drift of the ice towards the south-west,..for three weeks preceding our entrance amid the *land floes, had averaged seven or eight miles a-day. 1866 C. E. Smith Diary 20 July in Listener (1969) 17 Apr. 525/2 We are unable to stir, with a tremendous land-floe on one side of us and, on the other side, a body of ice extending as far as we can see from the mast-head. 1939 Beaver June 31 By May literally hundreds of thousands [of eider ducks] have arrived to feed in the sea and rest idly on the edge of land-floe and ice-pan. |
| 1611 L. Whitaker in Coryat Crudities Introd. Verses, Here to this *Land-Friggat he's ferried by Charon, He bords her; a seruice a hot and a rare one. |
| 11.. O.E. Chron. an. 1001 (Laud MS.), Ne him to ne dorste scip here on sæ, ne *land⁓fyrd. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §4. 75 The Land-Fyrd, or general levy of fighting men. |
| 1953 *Land-gift [see Bhoodan]. 1957 Listener 30 May 889/3 The Land Gifts Movement..aims at persuading landowners large and small to surrender voluntarily a sixth of their land for distribution to the poor. 1964 T. Zinkin India vi. 125 Vinoba Bhave..managed to create such a response for his ‘Bhoodan’— land-gift—that the bitterness on which the communists had thrived in Telengana vanished. |
| 1918 Times 20 Mar. 9/4 The *land girls [had] little felt hats and smocks and their red badges of service. 1919 ‘I. Hay’ Last Million 81 We have consorted with..Farmers, Hedgers, and Land Girls. 1928 ‘R. Crompton’ William—the Good iv. 103 He found his sister Ethel wearing a neat land girl's costume and weeding a bed. 1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 8 Nov. 325 One German pilot even turned his guns against land girls working in the fields. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 July 399/5 A young Tunisian land⁓girl and youth leader. 1974 M. Cecil Heroines in Love vii. 175 Down on the farm the Land Girl was swept off her feet by the farmer. |
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (Hakl. Soc.) 246 Purchasing..howses and *landgoods upon which they did inhabite. |
| 1862 N.Y. Tribune 21 Mar., Some years since, the movement for a Pacific Railroad, attended by an enormous *land-grant, assumed proportions that indicated the probable success of the movement. 1869 Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 431 Expended..Land grant expenses—$7,205. 1889 Century Mag. Jan. 404/2 The land-grant colleges graduate men fitted to superintend farms and workshops. 1900 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 5/1 At the present time no land-grants to emigrants are being made by the Natal Government. 1943 J. S. Huxley TVA vi. 30 In 1862..Land Grant Colleges were established—so called because in every State lands were granted from the public domain to endow a College for the teaching of ‘Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts’. 1944 F. Clune Red Heart 5 He was..a hander-out of liberal land-grants to sycophantic favourites. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. iv. 158 If arable is at the centre of the land-grant, connected rights in meadow, pasture..and wood were closely associated with it. 1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 14 Mar. (1970) 498 Federal participation in education is not exactly new, going back as far as 1785 in the Land Ordinance, the land grant colleges of the 1860's [etc.]. |
| 1671 Madox (title) Baronia Anglica, a History of *Land-Honours and Baronies, and of Feudal Tenure in capite. |
| a 1848 Finlayson in Chambers's Inform. I. 486/2 The..most forward horse, should be put in the furrow, and only bound back to the right or off theet of the *land-horse. |
| 1862 J. M. Ludlow Hist. U.S. vi. 221 The *land-hunger of the South now outstripped even the ambition of conquest of Mr. Polk. |
| 1889 Century Mag. Jan. 369/2 When the *land-hungry band of Welsh and Norman barons entered Ireland. |
| 1820 Scoresby in Ann. Reg. ii. 1324 *Land-ice consists of drift-ice attached to the shore; or drift-ice, which, by being covered with mud or gravel, appears to have recently been in contact with the shore; or the flat-ice, resting on the land, not having the appearance or elevation of ice-bergs. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxiii. 281 Crossing the land-ices by portage. 1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age (1894) 547 These boulders could not have been carried by land-ice. |
| c 1500 Addic. Scot. Cron. (1819) 4 The *land Ill..was so violent þ{supt} þar deit ma þ{supt} yere than euir þar deit ouder in pestilens [etc.]. |
| a 1745 Swift Direct. Servants vii. 74 Let him be at Home to none but.. a *Land-Jobber, or his Inventor of new Funds. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. xv. 419 A physician, land-jobber, and subservient political intriguer. |
| 1781 in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1814) 2nd. Ser. I. 186 Toryism, British interest, and *Land⁓jobbing views, combine numbers without and within doors. 1885 Century Mag. Apr. 826 When the bill to establish a State park at Niagara was on its passage,..the great majority of the country members were opposed to it, fearing that it might conceal some land-jobbing scheme. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxviii. 278 Here the *land-leads ceased, with the exception of some small and scarcely practicable openings near the shore. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, xcii, What horror stops my Quill? ere yet aboard Wee see the Royall Fraught, a *Land-Leake Springs. |
| 1871 City-Road Mag. I. 242/1 If Mr. Goschen has had to get his sea-legs on, Jack finds it as difficult to put on his *land-legs. 1927 Sunday Times 6 Mar. 23/4 The tourists will disembark..and proceed to Teignmouth to spend eighteen days recovering their ‘land legs’ and developing combination. 1938 H. Nicolson Let. 17 Apr. (1966) 337 Have you..recovered your landlegs as yet? After three days in the train one feels the room rocking like after three days at sea. |
| 1840 Knickerbocker XVI. 206 Another class of operators..became popularly known as ‘*land-lookers’. These met you at every turn, ready to furnish ‘water power’, ‘pine-lots’, ‘choice farming tracts’ or any thing else, at a moment's notice. 1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 6 These blunders called into action another class of operators, who became popularly known as ‘land-lookers’. 1891 R. A. Alger in Voice (N.Y.) 15 Oct., What woodsmen call a ‘land-looker’, i.e. a timber expert whose business it is to locate pine timber land in Michigan. 1893, 1900 Landlooker [see cruiser 3]. 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xvi. 116 This is the usual method of procedure adopted by land-lookers everywhere. |
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlvi. 217 Hence countrie Loutes *land lurch their Lords. |
| 1390–91 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 392 Pro *landmale, 9d. 1416–17 Ibid. 614 Pro ligatura cujusdam libri vocati le landmalebok, 16d. 1429 Ibid. 60 In laynd⁓mayle solut. sacristæ Dunelm., 9½d. 1577 in Balfour Oppressions in Orkn. & Shetl. (1859) 18 Ane dewitie thai pay to the Kingis Maiestie for thair scat and landmales zeirlie. 1665 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 218, 15 August, Paid for Land Male, 1s. 9d. |
| 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 212 Many of the Imperial Marquisats..had their names from being *Land-marches of the State, and not from their maritime situation. |
| 1670 Blount Glossogr., *Land-mate, in Herefordshire he that in Harvest-time reaps on the same ridge of ground, or Land, with another, they call Land-mates, that is fellow Laborers on the same land. |
| 1577–87 Harrison England i. xviii. (1877) III. 132 Our medowes, are either bottomes..or else such as we call *land meads, and borrowed from the best and fattest pasturages. |
| 1890 Electrician 16 Mar. 502/1 *Land Mines. These mines..are intended to be placed a few inches below the surface of the ground, and are so constructed that they..fire themselves electrically or mechanically when the measure of the weight of a man is brought to bear upon them. 1915 R. W. Campbell Private Spud Tamson xix. 288 A terrific explosion of land mines, which burst beneath the feet of the enemy. a 1917 E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 134 Two sappers brought up land mines and laid them. 1940 N. & Q. 21 Dec. 440/2 Up to September of this year a land-mine..signified a receptacle filled with explosive and concealed immediately below the surface of the ground... In popular parlance it has come to mean a mine, that is to say a thin metal container holding a large quantity of explosive, dropped from an enemy aeroplane upon the land. 1959 Chambers's Encyl. II. 413/1 The effectiveness of the ‘land-mines’ dropped by the Luftwaffe on Britain. 1968 M. Richler in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. 183 Had a little disagreement with a land mine, son. 1973 ‘R. MacLeod’ Nest of Vultures vi. 129 British antipersonnel Claymore land-mines. |
| 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxxxiv. 102 If our Welsh *land⁓mistress said, ‘Here are Martin and John making me fair offers for the farm’ [etc.]. |
| 1858 G. W. Dasent in Oxford Ess. 185 Chief after chief coming out [to Iceland]..settling himself on some great chief's lot or *landnám, who allotted him a portion on condition of the acknowledgement of his supremacy. 1877 C. A. V. Conybeare Place of Iceland in Hist. European Inst. 28 The Goðorð was no doubt intimately connected with the landnám of the most powerful of the immigrants. 1915 K. Gjerset Hist. Norwegian People (1932) xxv. 140 The chieftains..claimed large tracts of land by right of settlement and occupation..while the freemen..with their consent, settled in their landnám. |
| 1618 Bolton Florus ii. xvi. (1636) 140 At the very entrance of the Isthmus or *Land-neck. |
| 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. xii. Tracts (1769) 364 Of all oaths they [the Irish] think themselves at much liberty to take a *land⁓oath, as they call it: Which is an oath to prove a forged deed, a possession, livery or seisin, payment of rent, &c. in order to recover for their countrymen the lands which they forfeited. |
| 1790 A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 48 It seems requisite that the general *land-office should be established at the seat of government. 1855 Ogilvie, Suppl., Land-office, in most colonies there are land-offices, in which the sales of new land are registered, and warrants issued for the location of land, and other business respecting unsettled land is transacted. |
| 1839 Picayune (New Orleans) 2 Apr. 2/3 A practical printer..could do a *land-office business here. 1877 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Nov. 590/1 Naturally, the prophets of Baal took all the trade. Isaac..went a-prophesying around, letting on to be doing a land-office business, but 't wa'n't any use. 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 153 It is owned by the Union Mill and Mining Company, which once did a land-office business in ore crushing. 1935 M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer v. 51 He was doing a land-office business in gas and pop and candy. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris xi. 203 American students..used to do a land-office business in contraband cigarettes. 1972 New York 12 June 35/2 Allen & Co...was doing a land-office business touting Planet Oil. |
| 1847 W. T. Porter Quarter Race 115 Known as the Captain of a ‘*land-packet’—in plain terms, the driver of an ox-team. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 78 Another *land passage or Isthmus there is of like streightness..and of equall breadth with that of Corinth. 1642 Declar. Chas. I to Parlt. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 602 He hath..cut the Banks, and let in the Waters to drown the Land-passages, and to make the Town inaccessable by that way. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vii. 190 There is no Land-passage from this Elder World unto that of America. |
| 1741 T. Robinson Gavelkind ii. viii. 273 A Custom..is set up at present in most Manors of..the..Weald under the Name of *Landpeerage; whereby the Owners of the Lands, on each side the Highways, claim to exclude the Lord from the Property of the Soil of the Way, and of the Trees growing thereon. |
| 1609 Dekker Lanth. & Candle-l. viii. Wks. (Grosart) III. 262 The Cabbines where these *Land⁓pyrates lodge in the night, are the Out-barnes of Farmers. c 1670 in T. Brooks Wks. (1867) VI. 388 Some dishonest booksellers, called land-pirates, who make it their practice to steal impressions of other men's copies. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Land-pirates, Highwaymen or any other Robbers. 1890 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 148/1 A bloody murdering land-pirate that ought to be hung at the yard-arm. |
| 1923 Daily Mail 23 June 5 Among *landplanes there are huge new troop-carriers. 1932 19th Cent. Feb. 205 One squadron of flying-boats and one of torpedo-bomber landplanes. 1941 E. C. Shepherd Military Aeroplane 27 The Coastal Command..has..landplane reconnaissance craft which can also carry bombs. 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 61 Land planes are not designed for alighting on the sea. 1969 K. Munson Pioneer Aircraft 1903–14 152/2 Unlike Fabre's seaplane, however, this was both a landplane and a biplane, with a twin-girder ‘fuselage’ on which was lightly attached an aluminium nacelle encompassing side-by-side seats for pilot and passenger. |
| 1603 Owen Pembrokesh. xvi. (1891) 133 The vsuall measure of land vsed in this shire much differeth from the statute acre, for yt differeth all together in summinge vp, as allso in the *land pole. |
| 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West 781 In the country, the old settlers are ‘*land-poor’—so rich that they can not pay their taxes. 1914 Collier's Mag. 31 Jan. 22/2 The land-poor farmer is a well-known institution in the Middle West. a 1953 E. O'Neill Long Day's Journey (1956) iv. 125 All I told them was I couldn't afford any millionaire's sanatorium because I was land poor. |
| 1834 Penny Cycl. II. 224/2 In such soils an artificial pan may be formed by the *land-presser or press-drill. |
| 1842 Brande Dict. Sci. etc., *Land-reeve, a subordinate officer on an extensive estate, who acts as an assistant to the land steward. |
| 1862 Act 25 & 26 Vict. c. 53 s. 108 An Office, to be called the Office of *Land Registry, shall be established. 1974 J. M. Brownjohn tr. H. H. Kirst's Time for Truth iii. 73 The information does seem to be genuine... I took the liberty of running a preliminary check at the Land Registry. 1986 Homes & Savings Winter 46/1 The Land Registry issues a land certificate..to the owner. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Land-roll, a clod-crusher and seam⁓presser. |
| 1948 Trade Marks Jrnl. 29 Sept. 786/2 Land⁓rover... Land motor-vehicles and parts thereof... The Rover Company Limited. 1948 Motor 3 Nov. 381/1 Also exhibited is the Land Rover, as a closed estate car with seven-seat capacity, a go-anywhere, four-wheel-drive model powered by the ‘60’ engine. 1953 New Statesman 13 June 696/3 Commuting barristers and stockbrokers in their shooting brakes and land-rovers. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Apr. 243/4 It is one of the few recent books about the Sahara desert in which there is no mention of a Land-Rover. 1960 Times 5 July (Agric. Suppl.) p. iv/1 The Land-Rover is as much part of the farming scene as the cattle or the sheep. 1971 Country Life 25 Feb. 436/2 Then came the Landrover, also a multi-purpose, cross-country vehicle. |
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 39 Mony hurlis of stannirs & stanis that tumlit doune vitht the *land rusche. |
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 47 *Land-Sale Collieries. 1848 Simmond's Colon. Mag. May 63 The whole sum realised by land sales. 1860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Newcastle Terms, Landsale, coals sold to the country in the neighbourhood of the pit. 1886 J. Boyd Bewick Gleanings 2 His father and grandfather before him, had..held a small ‘landsale’ colliery near their home at Cherryburn. |
| 1828 N. Carlisle Acc. Charities 295 Anciently the greatest part of the Country lay in common, only some parcels about the villages being inclosed, and a small quantity in *Land-Scores allotted out for tillage. |
| 1617 in G. W. Hill & W. H. Frere Mem. Stepney Parish (1891) 77 There shalbe a generall *Landskot and assessem{supt} made of all the inhabitants of the parish..toward the necessarie repayre of the Church. 1875 Parish Sussex Gloss., Lanscot or Landscote. |
| 1834 A. Jackson in Messages & Papers of Presidents (1896) III. 52 Mr. St. Clair..had permitted the clerk in his office to be the agent of speculations in *land scrip. 1848 Indiana Gen. Assembly Doc. (1849) I. 181 Such land Scrip as had been issued on the Wabash and Erie Canal. 1862 Congress. Globe 10 June 2628/1 There is no railroad company..that has the right to locate land scrip. 1943 L. V. Hamner Short Grass 174 Surveyors..bought up a lot of land scrip for almost nothing. |
| 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 397 Harrowgate-water is certainly an excellent medicine in the *land scurvy. 1891 C. Creighton Hist. Epidemics 605 note, At one time land-scurvy was detected (under the influence of theory) in many forms. |
| 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. July 475/2 In the *land-sealing..thousands of fur-seals are driven and forced onwards. |
| a 1775 Hobie Noble ix. in Child Ballads (1890) IV. 2/2, I dare not with you into England ride, The *land-sergeant has me at feid. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Land-serjeant, one of the officers of the Border watch, under the Warden of the March. 1894 R. S. Ferguson Hist. Westmorland 197 The steward or land-sergeant of their barony or manor. |
| 1769 Wesley Jrnl. 30 Mar., Let all beware of these *land⁓sharks. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxiv, Lieutenant Brown..told him some goose's gazette about his being taken in a skirmish with the landsharks. 1829 in Ohio Archaeol. & Hist. Q. (1939) XLVIII. 331 The Counsel is sure to be supported by the presiding Judges..& thus the Property of Society is Confiscated Legally between these Land Sharks. 1839 J. D. Lang N.Z. in 1839 i. 14 A class of persons in that Colony [sc. New South Wales] who were known by the name of Land Sharks..have turned their eyes all at once to New Zealand. 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago iv, Can't trust these landsharks; they'll plunder even the rings off a corpse's fingers. They think every wreck a god⁓send. 1865 C. F. Hursthouse Lett. on N.Z. Subjects 89 ‘Land Sharks’, twenty years ago this was a term rife in Australia and New Zealand. a 1910 ‘O. Henry’ Rolling Stones (1915) 218 A class of land speculators commonly called land sharks, unscrupulous and greedy. 1935 A. Sullivan Great Divide 342 The Metis are being stirred up by the land sharks to demand their scrip, then the sharks will swallow them. |
| 1839 Colonial Gaz. 28 Aug. 627/2 *Land-sharking means pretending to purchase, but really obtaining somehow, land from the natives. 1840 N.Z. Company Rep. I. 31 The practice of land-sharking, or the acquisition of land from the barbarous natives by private persons, without any reserves for the use of the natives, or indeed any sort of regard for their just rights. 1855 C. W. Richmond Let. 28 Apr. in Richmond–Atkinson Papers (1960) I. 162 Such agreements favor landsharking and tend to produce strife and contention. |
| 1846 H. Melville Typee i. (heading) A *land-sick ship. 1888 L. A. Smith Music of Waters 219, I could understand any land⁓sick lad longing for a sea-life if he once heard this ballast-throwing song. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 13 Feb. 2/1 The joy of the land-sick sailors who cried, ‘The sea, the sea!’ 1908 Daily Chron. 10 June 4/4 It was very curious, that first step ashore... I was thoroughly land-sick. 1922 D. H. Lawrence Let. 5 Sept. (1962) II. 714 We were twenty-five days at sea and are still landsick—the floor ought to go up and down, the room ought to tremble from the engines, the water ought to swish around but doesn't, so one is landsick. The solid ground almost hurts. 1924 ― & Skinner Boy in Bush 19 Jack was a little tired and a little land-sick, after the long voyage. |
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits iv. 65 Slain by a *land-slide, like the agricultural King Onund. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 240 The Roman road, which linked them with the only past they knew, had been buried under the great barbarian land-slide. 1870 Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. II. xxxiv. 308 A terrible landslide occurred, an eruption of mud, earth, and rocks. 1888 N.Y. Times 4 Nov. 5/1 A veritable landslide in Mr. Hewitt's favor. 1895 Century Mag. Mar. 734 There was then a great landslide of votes for McClellan. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 6 Nov. 7/1 We were justified in urging our readers yesterday to accept with caution the earlier views of the extent of McKinley's majority. It is not a ‘land⁓slide’. 1936 Punch 23 Sept. 362/1 The first volume of the long expected biography of Arthur James Balfour (which takes us as far as the Conservative landslide in 1906). 1946 Ann. Reg. 1945 239 Another undoubted shock was the Labour landslide in the British general elections. 1955 Times 9 May 11/4 The electoral landslide which swept into power the hastily organized Labour Front. 1974 Times 27 Feb. 18/5 Modern Toryism..wants a land-slide victory. |
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 669 Sexti *lond-speches and .xii. mo, weren delt ðane in werlde ðo. |
| 1910 R. Ferris How it Flies xx. 464 *Land-speed, the speed of aircraft as related to objects on the ground. 1935 Eyston & Lyndon Motor Racing & Record Breaking vi. 56 Record breaking can be somewhat grim, as is shown by the land-speed attempts at Daytona. 1963 Times 2 May 11/2 Donald Campbell reached 110 miles an hour on the salt flats here today when his turbo-jet car Bluebird made a first trial run for his world landspeed record bid. 1971 Guinness Bk. Records (ed. 18) xi. 160 The highest land speed recorded by a woman is 335·070 m.p.h. by Mrs. Lee Ann Breedlove. |
| 1739 N. Riding Rec. VIII. 227 Money laid out in repairing the *land stall leading to Burn and Masham Bridges. |
| 1688 New Jersey Archives (1881) II. 31 There is a gushet of about 2000 acres..which I design to take vp for you, being good land; so I think by farr you will be the best *land-stead of any concerned in the province. c 1701 Ibid. II. 34 He says I was in 1688, the best Land-stead of any concern'd in the Province. |
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 679 His *land-stewart in the tyme he maid Ouir all Scotland. 1701 Steele Funeral v. i. (1702) 72 He is not now with his Land-steward. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy xiv. 100 ‘My Lord’, answered the land steward, meekly, ‘were it a thing’ [etc.]. |
| 1796 Capt. Haig Diary in J. Russell Haigs (1881) 482 Many *land stones, some whin ones, but mostly all fine quarried stones. 1813 R. Kerr Agric. Berw. 35 In all free soils, numerous stones, provincially termed land-stones, are found. 1886 Cheshire Gloss., Land stones, the name given..to the pebbles and boulders turned up in digging and draining. |
| 1873 W. McDowall Hist. Dumfries I. 584 The pier or *landstool was commenced. |
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 11 Peruana is..enuironed on al sides with the sea, saue wheras the forsaid *Land-streight doth ioyn the same to Mexicana. 1625 Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar ii. v. 158 In a Foreland or Landstreight where two Seas meet. |
| 1868 Swinburne Poems & Ballads (ed. 3) 73 The *land-stream and the tide-stream in the sea. |
| 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices ii. (1558) 109 Did not *land striues bring them to distruction? |
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 10 Charge for *land swarmers, or small rockets. |
| 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms iv. 552 As her gilded prow is dancing Through the *landswell. |
| 1906 Ann. Rep. Board of Regents Smithsonian Inst. 287 Until a Parliament for Iceland was established in 930 these chieftains were the rulers of the island, each in his district or *land-take (land⁓nám), as it was called. 1908 W. G. Collingwood Scandinavian Brit. 193 In each landtake the bóndi fixed his homestead, neither on the exposed hill-top, nor on the marshy flat. 1927 E. V. Gordon Introd. Old Norse 235 The method of land-take used by settlers in Iceland; they carried fire through the land they were to occupy, and around its limits. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Apr. 4/1 The *land taxers have an idea that valuable sites are being held back by grasping ground landlords. 1909 Daily Chron. 30 Apr. 1/6 As land-taxers, we are thoroughly satisfied that we have got a complete system of land valuation. 1928 Daily Express 6 June 2/4 Colonel Wedgwood, the famous Socialist land-taxer. |
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 24 There be land rats, and water rats, water theeues, and *land theeues. 1865 Kingsley Herew. I. x. 229, I am Hereward the Berserker, the land-thief, the sea-thief. 1894 H. Spencer in Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 8/2 The stronger peoples have been land-thieves from the beginning, and have remained land-thieves down to the present hour. |
| 1818 Edin. Mag. Oct. 328/2 Whar the dew neer scanc't, nor the *landtide danc't Nor rain had ever fawn. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxvi. 341 The *land-trash is cemented by young ice. |
| 1676 Coles, *Land⁓turn, the same from off the land by night, as a Brieze is off the Sea by day. |
| 1851 Fraser's Mag. XLIII. 117 Luckily..for railway companies,..*land-valuation is a remarkably elastic art. 1908 Daily Chron. 6 Aug. 8/3 The land-valuation proposals of the Government. |
| 1880 H. George Progress & Poverty viii. ii. 365 To abolish all taxation save that upon *land values. 1900 W. Smart Taxation of Land Values 38 Of late years we have heard much of a proposal called the taxation of land values. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 20 Feb. 2/2 The rates charged on the land-value basis. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. viii. 319 Considerable variation in land-values..occurred between 1066 and 1086. |
| 1844 Cobden Sp. (1870) I. 127 They are all auctioneers and *land-valuers. |
| 1711 Swift Examiner No. 28 ¶4 Give a Guinea to a Knavish *Land-Waiter, and he shall connive at the Merchant for cheating the Queen of an Hundred. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 132 Land waiter or searcher, a Custom-House officer who enters goods imported. |
| 1714 Q. Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5204/2 They are Delivered from a Consuming *Land-War. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. x. 204 Who, sitting in his closet, can lay out the plans of a campaign,—sea-war and land-war. 1873 J. Godkin (title) The Land-War in Ireland. |
| 1787 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 334 Sharpers had duped so many with their unlocated *land-warrants. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Land-warrant, a title to a lot of public land; an American security or official document for entering or settling upon government land, much dealt in among jobbers. |
| 1557 W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 114 The *land wash went so sore, that it overthrew his boate, and one of the men was drowned. 1891 Blizzard of 1891 ii. 26 Breakers fell with great force close to the landwash and over the promenade. |
| 1721 De Foe Moll Flanders (ed. 3) 58 This amphibious Creature, this *Land-water-thing, call'd, a Gentleman-Tradesman. |
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Sept. iv. 27 The *Land Wheel being obliged to go on the Turf its Share is kept too high. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 102/3 For a one-man unit the spreader should be land-wheel-driven for ease of hitching on and off. 1970 G. E. Evans Where Beards wag All ii. 46 A two-horse iron plough with round coulter,..land and furrow wheel. 1972 Country Life 10 Feb. 321/3 It [sc. a plough] had no land wheel, so that depth had to be kept by bearing on the stilts. |
| 1390–1 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 47 Lautre barell continente xxix stopas de *lande-wyn. 1573 Baret Alv. L 80 Land wine, or of our owne countrie growing, vinum indigena. |
| 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy v. 128 Between London and Amsterdam there are 130 miles of *land wire over the Great Eastern Railway, then a cable 120 miles long, and then 20 more miles of land wire. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 24 Feb. 4/1 The..cable from Ascension touches land in Cornwall.., whence a land-wire passed the signals on to Greenwich. 1930 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 23 Jan. 7/6 A microphone was installed at 10 Downing Street, and the Premier's words were carried by land wire to Chelmsford. |
| 1782 T. Pownall Antiq. 140 The..state..of the *land-worker. 1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 192 When the borders of Europe began to be settled and cultivated by the land⁓workers. |
| 1794–1811 Ld. Ellenborough in Espinasse Rep. III. 259 He would expect a clear *landworthiness in the carriage itself to be established. |
| 1928 Daily Express 26 May 9/3 There was shown at Olympia last year a ‘*land-yacht’ that was palatial in its appointments. 1967 Times 23 Jan. 9 A school that has its own land yacht, wind tunnel, go-kart and canoeing clubs. |
| 1828 N. Carlisle Acc. Charities 295 Two staves or 18 feet, in..Cornwall, are a *Land Yard, and 160 Land Yards are an English acre. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xii, I could smell supper, when hungry, through a hundred landyards of bog. |
Add:
[I.] [2.] c. the land, the (cultivable) earth viewed as a repository of natural resources and the chief source of human sustenance or livelihood. Freq. in phrases: see
back to the land,
the fat of the land s.v. fat n.2 2 c,
to live off the land s.v. live v.
1 2.
| c 1382 Bible (Wycliffe) Gen. xlv. 18, I shall ȝyue to ȝow al the goodis of Egipte, that ȝe eeten the mary of the loond. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. ii. v. 67 The king used to take..the first fruits, that is to say, one year's profits of the land. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 399 Work is the only anesthetic to which grief is vulnerable... Restoring the land would..palliate the grief. 1990 EastWest Dec. 52/2 The industrial eater is..one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer imagines the connections between eating and the land. |
d. on the land (
Austral.), in or into a rural (
esp. agricultural) occupation or way of life.
| 1902 Advocate (Burnie, Tasmania) 20 Feb. 4/1 Go on the Land! 1930 Billis & Kenyon Pastures New iii. 50 Charles Bonney..not caring for the shackles of the Sydney Government routine, went on the land. 1984 Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Apr. 68/1, I was born on the land... I've farmed my own properties since 1948. 1989 J. Conway Road from Coorain (1990) iii. 6 The contingent of country boys in the school..expected to go back home to a cheerfully horsey life on the land. |
[3.] [b.] Land of (the) Little Sticks (
Canad.), a sub-arctic region of northern Canada, whose vegetation includes stunted and dwarf trees.
land of the free: see *
free a.,
n., and
adv. B. 1 b.
| 1896 C. Whitney On Snow-Shoes to Barren Grounds xvi. 187 No man may consider himself an expert until he has driven dogs and handled a sledge over such country as that approaching the Land of the Little Sticks. 1930 R. W. Service Coll. Verse 301 Why do you linger all alone in the splendid emptiness, Scouring the Land of the Little Sticks on the trail of the caribou? 1965 F. Symington Tuktu 9 Urged by the high suns of May, the snow retreats through the land of the Little Sticks and the caribou pour out on the tundra. 1993 Up Here Aug.–Sept. 39/1 East of the North Arm, you're in the Land of Little Sticks, the Dene name for the rugged granite and uncountable lakes of the Canadian Shield where stunted birches, pine and spruce somehow cling to the rock. |
[c.] land of opportunity (applied
esp. to the United States of America).
| 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 636 New Mexico..has also been called..the Land of Opportunity. 1965 J. Von Sternberg Fun in Chinese Laundry (1966) i. 11 Had the land of opportunity been good to him, he might have taken time out to reflect. 1991 D. Rieff Los Angeles ii. vi. 100 It was said that criminals from South Central L.A. referred to the Westside and the Valley as the ‘lands’ for lands of opportunity. |
[II.] [10.] [b.] land developer.
| 1961 Providence Jrnl. 3 Feb. 21/7 While *land developers tell them when, where, and in what manner the community shall grow. 1984 S. Bellow Him with his Foot in his Mouth 33 Numerous failed entrepreneurs had preceded him in this private park, the oilmen and land developers who had caused this monument to be built. |
land management.
| 1944 E. H. Graham National Princ. Land Use xiv. 230 To many people, ecology and *land management are very general terms. 1988 National Trust Thames & Chilterns News Spring 1 Balance is fundamental to the Trust's policy and is vital to good rural land management. |
land manager.
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 16 June 1/3 A skilful *land-manager undoubtedly confers a benefit on the public. 1986 Farmers Weekly 3 Jan. 9/4 Land managers should meet the market demand for food. |
land settlement.
| 1924 S. H. Roberts Hist. Austral. Land Settlement p. xiii, I conceived the idea of surveying the whole field of *land settlement. 1987 N.Y. Times 5 Aug. a26/2 A merging of Sri Lanka's northern and eastern provinces into a single united province with its own legislature and control of law enforcement and land settlement. |
[c.] land-bound a.| 1972 F. Raphael April, June & Nov. 382 Sometimes their captains become *landbound and turn into shopkeepers. 1983 G. Priestland At Large 124 We seem to have become a landbound people who no longer do business in great waters. 1993 Sci. Amer. Jan. 90/2 For land-bound latecomers such as primates.., the only possible means of access to Madagascar was by ‘rafting’. |
[11.] [b.] land terrapin (also
transf.).
| 1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 133 The *Land-Terebin is of several Sizes, but generally Round-Mouth'd and not Hawks-Bill'd, as some are. 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 65 The spinose land-terrapin (Geoëmyda spinosa). 1939 Florida (Federal Writers' Project) i. 28 Turtles found in Florida are..the mud turtles, and a land terrapin which is peculiar to the State. 1952 B. Harwin Home is Upriver i.9 Kip did not know these people, except that they were river folk, and therefore not strangers like the land terrapins. |
[12.] landnam Archaeol. [a.
Da. landnam occupation of land (J. Iversen 1941, in
Danmarks Geol. Unders{obar}gelse 2nd
Ser. LXVI);
cf. landnám above.], the clearance of forested land for (
usu. short-term) agricultural purposes;
esp. such an event as evidenced by sudden changes in pollen spectra.
| 1950 F. E. Zeuner Dating Past (ed. 2) iv. 78 Iversen holds that these changes indicate the arrival of farmers, the phase of landnam or land occupation, that the charcoal comes from clearance fires. 1973 P. A. Colinvaux Introd. Ecol. vii. 108 A landnam event has been found in many parts of Europe, everywhere first dated at about 5000 years ago and suggesting that men quickly learnt the new ways from each other throughout the whole continent. 1980 K. Randsborg Viking Age in Denmark iv. 53 The first stage is the Neolithic landnam, which, for example, is earlier on the Danish islands than in, say, southern Norway. 1991 Antiquity LXV. 997/2 One can more easily envisage the strategy of midslope settlement and radial remuages as a late rationalization of a landnam. |
land-wash: (
b)
orig. and chiefly
N. Amer., the part of a beach which is washed by the sea.
| 1770 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 26 Oct. (1792) I. 49 They had tailed a trap on the land-wash at the head of Niger Sound. 1969 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float iii. 22 Two-score..houses..clambered up the slope from the landwash. 1991 Newfoundland Lifestyle Aug.–Oct. 19/3 Sail out of it she did, to the applause and wonder of about a thousand people on the wharf, along the landwash, and on the low hill across the road. |
▸ As the second element in compounds: forming nouns with the senses ‘the notional realm or domain dominated by or centred around——’, ‘a world typified or characterized by——’.
| 1831 T. Moore Summer Fête 498 Two Exquisites, a he and she, Just brought from Dandyland, and meant For Fashion's grand Menagerie. 1891A. C. Doyle Red-headed League in Strand Mag. Aug. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land where..there are no red-headed clients to vex us. 1906 Daily Chron. 6 Nov. 3/3 They live in ‘dot-and-dash-land’, in a world of broken utterances, implied confidences, and vague memories. 1920 E. Wharton Let. 12 Dec. (1988) 434 Give my best love to Mary, & tell her that I count on her too, after grandchild-land. 1969 A. MacLean Puppet on Chain ii. 35 People operating on the fringes of junky-land. 1988 S. Rushdie Satanic Verses v. i. 266 Chamcha had long suspected he'd made up the story, with its perfect ad-land components—Scandinavian icequeen, two thugs, expensive cars, Valance in the Blofeld role and 007 nowhere on the scene. 2000 A. Calcutt Brit Cult 433/2 The traditional Aga-tale of adultery in Barbour-land. |
▪ II. land, v. (
lænd)
[f. land n.1 (OE. had lęndan of similar formation: see lend v.)] I. Transitive senses.
1. a. To bring to land; to set on shore; to disembark.
| a 1300 K. Horn 779 A gode schup he hurede, Þat him scholde londe In Westene londe. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 461 The skippar bad ger land the at the Bas. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xii. (1848) 246, I see the Water-man prepare to Land us. 1678 Wanley Wond. Lit. World v. ii. §79. 472/1 He Landed an Army in Apulia. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiv. 286 Our ships, when we should land our men, would keep at..a distance. 1838 Thirlwall Greece III. xx. 149 The troops, having been landed in Cephallenia. 1842 Campbell Napoleon & Brit. Sailor 64 He should be shipped to England Old And safely landed. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 288 Four hundred boats were coming..to land their cargoes. |
b. To bring to the surface (from a mine). ?
Obs.| 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire xi. (1891) 91 These persons will Lande about..hundred barells of coale in a daye. |
c. pass. In Canada, to be given the status of a landed immigrant (see
landed ppl. a. 3).
| 1910 [see landed ppl. a. 3]. 1962 Canada Month Aug. 16/3 They arrived from an Italian refugee camp in three groups around mid-month, were duly ‘landed’ by immigration officials. 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 May 3/3 So far 22,905 have actually been ‘landed’—given legal status as landed immigrants—and it's just a matter of time before most of the others achieve the same goal. |
2. To bring into a specified place,
e.g. as a stage in or termination of a journey; to bring into a certain position: usually with
advb. phr. Also
fig. to bring into a certain position or to a particular point in a course or process. (
Cf. 8.)
| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Ep. Ded. a 3 b, It is onely a holy life that lands us there [sc. in heaven]. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 57 This drain to be continued to that place where you have most conveniencie to land your water. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. ii. ii. (1874) 212 The pantheist, when compelled to explain himself, is landed in Atheism. 1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xix, Now then, give us your hand; one foot on the box, one on the roller-bolt, and now you're landed. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. II. i. 4 Poor Harry's fine folks have been too fine for him, and have ended by landing him here. 1874 Burnand My time xxviii. 271 A jerk that nearly landed me on his [the horse's] back. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 200 The pass over the Cottian Alps..would have landed Hannibal in the territory of the Taurini. 1882 Besant Revolt of Man vi. (1883) 126 Such a sermon..would infallibly land its composer..in a prison. 1892 Bookman Oct. 29/2 His wife, his temperament, his philanthropy contrive to land him in fraudulent bankruptcy. |
b. To set down from a vehicle. (
Cf. 8 b.)
| 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. iii. (1853) 108 The Exeter Fly..having..landed its passengers for supper and sleep. 1859 ― Virgin. I. xxvii. 213 One chair after another landed ladies at the Baroness's door. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 267 His hansom landed him at the door of a great mansion. |
c. slang. To set (a person) ‘on his feet’.
| 1868 Yates Rock Ahead ii. vi, Lord Ticehurst, having done his duty in landing Gilbert [viz. by giving him an introduction], had strolled away. 1876 Hindley Adv. Cheap Jack 33, I bought a big covered cart and a good strong horse. And I was landed! 1879 ‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ in Macm. Mag. XL. 502, I was landed (was all right) this time without them getting me up a lead (a collection). |
d. Naut. To lower on to the deck or elsewhere by a rope or tackle.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Work-bk., To land on deck. A nautical anomaly, meaning to lower casks or weighty goods on deck from the tackles. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 61 Land them on the taffrail. |
e. slang. To get (a blow) home. Also
intr. with
out.
| 1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 93/1 He landed him a little one on his left ogle. 1888 J. Runciman Chequers 93 Their object is to land one cunning blow. 1891 Gentl. Mag. Aug. 110 That's right, Captain Kitty!.. Land him [sc. the Devil] one in the eye. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 2 That on'y made Bill madder 'n ever, an' 'e lands aht wiv 'is right, but the Gent. jest ketched 'is arm. 1912 Chambers's Jrnl. June 395/2 After sparring for five minutes, and frustrating every attempt you made to ‘land’ on him, he would sit down. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Oct. 274/3 Why didn't his man ‘land out’ at the insulting blighter? |
f. Sporting colloq. (with and without
compl.) To bring (a horse) ‘home’,
i.e. to the winning post; to place first in a race. Also
intr. to get in first, win.
| 1853 G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand I. vi. 151 St. Agatha..after one of the finest races on record, is landed a winner by a neck. 1890 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 291 A shower of flukes at the latter end landed him the winner. 1891 Licensed Victualler's Gaz. 20 Mar. (Farmer), Had the French filly landed, what a shout would have arisen from the ring! 1898 Daily News 28 May 8/3 The Prince's colours were landed amid enthusiastic cheering. |
g. Machine knitting. To secure (a loop) on the closed beard of a needle.
| 1885 [see knock v. 15 c]. 1926 J. Chamberlain Knitting Math. & Mech. v. 98 Using different lengths of beards in the same machine may result in certain loops not being landed, and consequently not cast off. 1952 D. F. Paling Warp Knitting Technol. i. 6 The old fabric loops on their upward movement pass over the tips of the beards which are embedded in the needle eyes, and the old loops are landed on to the closed beards. |
h. To bring (an aircraft) to earth from the air; to place (an aircraft or spacecraft, or its contents) on the ground or some other surface after a flight.
| 1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 49 I'll guarantee to safely land the fastest machine in a five-acre field. 1926 Encycl. Brit. I. 65/2 Attempts were later made to land machines on this forward deck [of the aircraft carrier]. 1931 Times 19 Feb. 17/2 There was a difference of opinion as to who should land the flying boat?—Very definitely. 1932 W. E. Johns Camels are Coming ii. 35 Agents..are usually taken over by aircraft; sometimes they drop by parachute and sometimes we land them. 1948 Gregory & Allan Helicopter xvi. 190 There are a lot of things that we have to do to this machine before you can take off and land it. 1952 K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile vi. 103 (caption) Instead of landing the entire space-ship, a secondary rocket will descend to the surface. 1962 Times 30 Apr. 12/7 Russia's latest earth satellite has been successfully landed in a predetermined area. 1967 J. Rowland Jet Man vi. 59 Now Whittle's experience of aerobatics came in useful, for he had to ‘land’ the machine in the water. 1968 Ann. Reg. 1967 178 The two accidents were a severe setback to American plans to land a man on the moon before 1970. 1972 Nature 3 Mar. 3/1 It is simply too dangerous to attempt to land a manned spacecraft in the lunar mountains. |
3. Angling. To bring (a fish) to land,
esp. by means of a gaff, hook, or net. Also,
to land the net.
| 1613 J. Dennys Secrets Angling ii. xxi, Then with a net, see how at last he lands A mighty carp. 1653 Walton Compl. Angler iv. 105 Help me to land this as you did the other. 1787 [see landing-net]. 1867 F. Francis Angling viii. (1880) 297 When you have hooked a grayling your next job is to land him. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. lxxi. §14 Any person who shall..work any seine or draft net for salmon..within one hundred yards from..any other seine or draft net..before such last-mentioned net is fully drawn in and landed, shall..be liable [etc.]. 1883 Manch. Exam. 30 Oct. 8/4, I will not trouble you with an account of the trout and grayling we landed during the first two or three days of our visit. 1884 Pae Eustace 62 They were pretty constantly engaged in shooting and landing the net. |
b. fig. To catch or ‘get hold of’ (a person); to secure or win (a sum of money,
esp. in betting or horse-racing). Also, to obtain (employment). Also
absol.| 1854 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gen. Bounce II. xx. 114, I landed a hundred gold mohrs by backing his new lot for the Governor-General's Cup. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. vii, You must be gentle with me if you want to land me. 1876 Ouida Winter City vi. 143 So that they land their bets, what do they care? 1884 Black in Harper's Mag. Dec. 24/1, I can't say I've landed a fortune over its tips. 1926 Whiteman & McBride Jazz viii. 167 That is another reason why the outsider fails to land. He doesn't know about these rogues. 1946 E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh (1947) iii. 152 I'll bet you tink yuh're goin' out and land a job, too. 1952 Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 108 Land a spot, obtain an engagement. |
† 4. To throw (a bridge) across a river.
Obs.| 1637 Petit. to Chas. I in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 91 They may be suffered at their owne chardge to land a bridge over y⊇ river. 1638 Chas. I. Let. to King's College, ibid., To permitt them at their owne charge to land a bridge from the middest of y{supt} o{supr} Colledge. |
† 5. To bestow land upon.
Obs. nonce-use.
| 1624 Heywood Captives i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Thou hast monied me in this, Nay landed me..And putt mee in a large possession. |
6. a. to land up: to fill or block up (a watercourse, pond, etc.) partially or wholly with earth; to silt up.
| 1605 Willet Hexapla Gen. 30 Gobaris caused the naturall current, landed vp, to be opened and enlarged. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 307 Diabolus sought to land up Mouthgate with dirt. 1793 R. Mylne Rep. Thames & Isis 16 These lands have a very imperfect drainage at present, by the water⁓courses and ditches being landed up. 1815 W. Marratt Hist. Lincolnsh. III. 243 A serpentine fish pond..partly landed up. 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 300 The river became landed up by the sediment of the tides. |
b. To earth up (celery). Also with
up.
| a 1806 Abercrombie in Loudon Gardening iii. i. (1822) 723 Repeat this..till by degrees they are landed up from twelve inches to two feet. 1856 [see landing vbl. n. 2]. |
II. Intransitive senses.
7. To come to land; to go ashore from a ship or boat; to disembark. Of a ship, etc.: To touch at a place in order to set down passengers.
In early use
occas. conjugated with the verb
to be.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Macc. iii. 42 The oost appliede, or londide, at the coostis of hem. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 151 Irisch Scottes londede at Argoyl. c 1400 Sir Beues p. 24 (MS. S.) With her ship þere gon þey lond. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3054 He wende to haue landyd..At Dower. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xvii, The Sarasyns ar londed in their countreyes mo than xl M. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 259 b, He had knowledge..that the Frenche army entended to land in the Isle of Wight. 1611 Bible Acts xxi. 3 We..sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre. 1661 Dryden To his Sacred Majesty 9 Thus, royal Sir, to see you landed here Was cause enough of triumph for a year. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 156 Behold him landed, careless and asleep, From all th' eluded dangers of the deep! 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiii. 276 No place where it was possible for a boat to land. 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend xxii, The dog..landed at the same stairs where the boats land. 1882 B. M. Croker Proper Pride I. ii. 11 Among the passengers who landed at Southampton from the Peninsular and Oriental Rosetta. |
8. lit. and
fig. To arrive at a place, a stage in a journey, or the like; to come to a stage in a progression; to end
in something. Also with
up. (
Cf. 2.)
| 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 153 Landing by the first pair of Stairs with your Face towards the East. 1721 Ramsay Elegy Patie Birnie iii, When strangers landed. 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 243 Thus this matter is entered on; where it will land, the Lord himself direct. 1727 Ibid. 304 If any subordination and dependence [of the Persons of the Trinity]..were asserted, he could not but think it would land in a dependent and independent God. 1927 H. Crane Let. 19 Mar. (1965) 291, I had just landed in town after three months with the bossy cows. 1958 Listener 30 Oct. 694/3 They [sc. migrants] land up, exhausted, on islands and headlands. 1965 Ibid. 2 Sept. 351/2 After unspecified work in a map shop he landed up, furnished with a testimonial from Charles Graves, in the publishing house of Novello. |
b. To alight upon the ground,
e.g. from a vehicle, after a leap, etc. Esp. of an aircraft or spacecraft, or a person in one: to alight upon or reach the ground, or some other surface, after a flight. (
Cf. 2 b.)
| 1693 Southerne Maid's Last Prayer iii. ii, Lady Susan. There's a Coach stopt, I hope 'tis hers. Jano. 'Tis my Lady Trickit's; she's just Landed. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4427/14 To receive them as they Landed out of their Coaches. 1784 V. Lunardi Acct. First Aërial Voy. in Eng. 37 My principal care was to avoid a violent concussion at landing, and in this my good fortune was my friend. At twenty minutes past four I descended in a spacious meadow. 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIII. 287 The spot where the horse took off to where he landed is above eighteen feet. 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend xxxvii, It landed among some cabbage-leaves. 1899 H. G. Wells When Sleeper Wakes xxiv. 326 On Blackheath no aëroplane had landed. 1908 ― War in Air ii. 60 The balloon was bumping as though its occupants were trying to land. 1911 W. Kaempffert New Art of Flying xiv. 238 Ely's remarkable feat in landing on the deck of a warship in the harbour of San Francisco. 1917 [see flatten v. 2 b]. 1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings ii. 45 The machine in question was probably hit, however, for it did not return, and I saw it begin a glide as though the pilot meant to land. 1930 Times 11 Nov. 16/4 She [sc. a flying boat] circled the station and then landed in comparatively calm water. 1952 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. X. 7/2 When landing, the pilot is guided on to the deck by the Deck Control Officer who signals with ‘bats’. 1953 Leslie & Adamski (title) Flying saucers have landed. 1969 Times 21 July 1/1 The first word from man on the moon came from Aldrin: ‘Tranquillity base. The Eagle has landed.’ 1973 Sci. Amer. Dec. 102/1 If the birds are pursued, they take off, but they do not fly far before they land again. |
† c. fig. To fall, light (
upon).
Obs.| a 1670 Hacket 2nd Serm. on Incarnat. (1675) 11 Each parcel of comfort landed jump..in the same model of Ground. 1727 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 304 We inquired into the reports, found them all land on Mr. Simson. |
d. With
on. Of an aircraft: to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Hence
landing-on vbl. n.| 1937 Aeroplane 9 June 691/1 The ship was headed into wind and permission to land-on was given to the first Nimrod. Ibid. 16 June 724/1 The landing-on is organised similarly to the flying-off. 1939 Nature CXLIII. 592/2 ‘Landing on’ had proved safer than driving a car on an English road. 1954 P. K. Kemp Fleet Air Arm 95 They took off and landed on without difficulty, completely independent of the sea. |
Add:
[II.] [8.] e. fig. to land on one's feet = to fall on one's feet s.v. fall v. 65 h.
Cf. to light on one's feet (or legs) s.v. light v.
1 9.
colloq.| 1958 P. Branch Murder's Little Sister iii. 32 Landing slap on your feet like a ruddy cat! Well, eight lives to go. 1979 J. C. Oates Unholy Loves iii. 207 He's in California..being interviewed by one of the state universities... At least he'll land on his feet. 1990 E. Blair Maggie Jordan iii. 67 You've certainly landed on your feet getting a job at Templeton's. |
▪ III. land obs. f. lant n.1, urine;
var. laund Obs.