▪ I. globe, n.
(gləʊb)
Also 7 glob.
[a. F. globe, ad. L. globus a round body or mass; a ball, sphere, etc. The ME. glob(be, glub(be, glub, used by Wyclif to render L. globus in the sense ‘body of men’, etc. is prob. etymologically distinct.]
1. a. A body having (accurately or approximately) the form of a sphere.
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., But in a Globe, (whiche is a bodie rounde as a bowle) there is but one platte forme, and one bounde. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 15 A diameter of a sphere, or globe, is any lyne drawen thorowe the same, goyng by the center of the sphere, or globe. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 613 The fume..mounts..In rolling globes vp to the vauted skies. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 79 The outward roofe is divided into foure globes, covered with leade. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. ii. §18 All those particles were not at first Sphærical, because many such little Globes joyned together will not fill up a continued space. 1783 Franklin in Ellis Orig. Lett. (1843) 424 The experiment of a vast Globe [a balloon] sent up into the air, much talk'd of here at present. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 155 The other tall [foot-note The Guelder Rose], and throwing up into the darkest gloom Of neighbouring Cypress..Her silver globes. 1812–16 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art. I. 277 The earth is not a perfect globe. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. iii. 139 Bright golden globes Of fruit, suspended in their own green heaven. 1854 Tomlinson Arago's Astron. 55 The sun is an immense globe, 1,300,000 times greater than the earth. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 616 In the form of a globe, round as from a lathe. |
b. fig. A complete or perfect body, a ‘full-orbed’ combination.
| 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Gt. Place (Arb.) 284/1 In the discharge of thie place, sett before thee the best Exemples; For Imitacion is a Globe of Preceptes. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 300 No sooner did the force of so much united excellence meet in one globe of brightnesse and efficacy, but [etc.]. |
† c. A fire-ball (see
quot.).
Obs.| 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 9 b, Of Shields, Globes or bowles. These Meteors also have their name of their fashion, because they..appeare to be round. |
† d. The
sphere of a planet.
Obs. rare.
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 41 The Fyre..shal ascend above them, and be next the Globe of the Mone. |
2. a. the (or this) globe, the earth.
† Formerly often
the globe of (the) earth,
globe of the world;
the earthly globe or
terrestrial globe (
cf. ball n. 2).
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 9 The hole globe of the world hath been sayled aboute. 1575 App. & Virg. in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 113 Gods that rule the skies, The Globe, and eke the Element. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 102 We the Globe can compasse soone, Swifter then the wandring Moone. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §192 (1810) 204 He was the second that circumpassed the earthly globe. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems 23 The sun, from east to west who all doth see, On this low glob sees nothing like to thee. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 1 Apr., I wish..you were..regular in letting me know what passes on your side of the globe. 1752 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 219 The same set of manners will follow a nation..over the whole globe. 1769 Wesley Jrnl. 8 Sept. (1827) III. 369 The globe of earth..can hardly afford a more pleasing scene. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 183 Thro' the shadow of the globe we sweep into the younger day. 1891 Speaker 2 May 534/1 The harnessing of electricity to the commerce of the globe. |
b. One of the planetary or celestial bodies.
| c 1566 J. Alday tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World S iv b, If thou art minded to surpasse al ye globes of the firmament, and see what is there contained. 1651 Davenant Gondibert ii. v. xx, Those vaste bright Globes..Were made but to attend our little Ball. 1840 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1842) V. iv. 56 Supposing a man told that he should suddenly be carried off to some unknown globe in the heavens. |
3. A spherical structure on whose surface is depicted the geographical configuration of the earth (
terrestrial globe), or the arrangement of the constellations (
celestial globe).
The terrestrial and celestial globes were formerly included under the name of
the globes,
esp. in the phrase
(to learn, teach) the use of the globes.
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 8 In the moste parte of Globes and Mappes they see the continente or fyrme land. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 114 note, An objection against the terestriall Globe. 1592 Dee Comp. Rehears. (Chetham) 28 Two globes of Gerardus Mercators best making on which were my divers reformations both geographicall, and celestiall. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. (1635) i. vii. 166 A Mappe differs from a Globe, in that the Globe is a round solide body, more neerely representing the true figure of the Earth. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 218, I have observ'd..several magnitudes of Stars less then those of the six magnitudes commonly recounted in the Globes. 1701 Wallis in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 329 With arithmetick, and the use of the globes. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 25 The celestial and terrestrial globes, the largest that had then ever been printed. 1866 Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. I. xi. 131, I suppose you've been taught music, and the use of globes, and French, and all the usual accomplishments. |
4. The golden ball or orb borne along with the sceptre as an emblem of sovereignty (
cf. ball n. 3).
| 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 158 In Christianitie there is now appropriated to supreme Princes a Globe, and an infixt Crosse. 1636 Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence i. i, If I had beene the heire Of all the Globes and Scepters mankind bowes to, At my best you had deserv'd me. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2309/3 At the reading of the Gospel the Emperor stood up, holding his Scepter in one Hand, and the Globe in the other. 1753 Scots Mag. Mar. 156/1 The globe and cross..shew him to have been a..King. 1780 Cowper Table T. 39 The globe and sceptre in such hands misplaced, Those ensigns of dominion, how disgraced! 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxxv, With crown, with sceptre, and with globe, Emblems of empery. |
5. Anat. globe of the eye,
ocular globe, the eyeball (see
quot. 1885).
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 162 The globe [of a fish's eye]..is furnished behind with a muscle, which serves to lengthen or flatten it according to the necessities of the animal. 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 510/2 It [the tissue] abounds..around the globe of the eye. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 54 The globe of the eye consists of two segments, the anterior of which is more or less conical. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 468 Three females and one male..were admitted for enucleation of wasted globes. 1885 Syd. Soc. Lex., Ocular globe, the eyeball after the separation of its muscles and outer connections. |
6. A glass vessel of approximately spherical form;
esp. a. a glass lamp-shade;
b. a vessel filled with water, used for exhibiting ornamental fish, or as a lens.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. Pref. E, A pretty large Globe of Glass, fill'd with exceeding clear Brine. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 142 The Globes..must be made of very thick white Glass. 1796 Hist. Ned Evans I. 10, I met a post chaise and four on the turnpike road: it had globes with lights in them. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 179 This instrument consists of a very strong glass tube..and ends in a globe of 1.2 or 1.3 inch in diameter. 1839 Chatto Wood Engraving viii. 652 Filling a large transparent glass-globe with clear water, and placing it in such a manner..that the light after passing through the globe, may fall directly on the block. 1873 Stewart Conserv. Force i. 8 A glass globe containing numerous gold-fish. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 194 Globes are seldom used in churches. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 592/2 It was a new lamp, with a..figured globe. |
7. Mil. † a. A kind of grenade.
Obs.| 1672 W. T. Mil. & Mar. Discipline iii. Compl. Gunner iii. ix. 7 There is given to these sort of Globes the names of Granadoes. Ibid. iii. xiii. 10 Stinking Globes are made to annoy the Enemy. |
b. globe of compression (
= F.
globe de compression): an overcharged mine, the explosion of which produces a crater of greater radius than depth.
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 263/2 Globe of Compression, a name given by Belidor to mines in which the highest charges of powder are employed... They were first employed by the King of Prussia, in 1762, at the siege of Schweidnitz. 1876 in Voyle Milit. Dict. s.v. Compression. |
8. In imitation of a Latin use: A compact body (of persons).
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Triumph xiii, Out there flies A globe of winged Angels, swift as thought. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 512 Him round A Globe of fierie Seraphim inclos'd. 1837 Blackw. Mag. XLII. 113 The Bashkirs collected into ‘globes’ and ‘turms’, as their only means of meeting the long lines of descending Chinese cavalry. |
† 9. Path. = globus.
Obs.| 1758 R. Brookes Gen. Pract. Physic II. 122 Then they feel a sort of a Globe arise from the lower Part of the Belly to the Hyphochondria and Diaphragm. |
10. attrib. and
Comb. a. General combinations, as
globe-maker;
globe-making vbl. n.;
globe-billed,
globe-cheeked,
globe-engirdling,
globe-girding,
globe-girdling ppl. adjs.;
globe-like adj.;
globe-wise adv.| 1847 Craig, *Globe-billed curassow, in Ornithology, the Crax globicera of Linnæus, a native of Guiana. |
| 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 18 Around the altar prance and pace *Globe-cheekit Fun. |
| 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xix. 307 *Globe-engirdling Drake, the Nauall Palme that wonne. |
| 1847 Emerson Poems, Monadnoc Wks. (Bohn) I. 433 The alps' *globe-girding chain. |
| 1875 Temple Bar June 255 A somewhat old-fashioned house, not working any of your *globe-girdling speculative gigantic operations. 1943 Amer. Mag. Mar. 98/1 A network of globe-girdling airways. |
| 1597 Drayton Heroic. Ep. iii. 29 Whilst I behold thy *Globe-like rouling eye, Thy louely cheeke (mee thinks) stands smiling by. 1620–55 I. Jones Stone-Heng (1725) 67 Unto Vesta..they built Temples of a round Form Globelike. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden lxi. 117 The Globe-like Throat-worts..grow naturally in divers places beyond the Seas. |
| 1740 Harris in Phil. Trans. XLI. 324 The *Globe-makers might save us the Trouble and Expence of having these graduated Slips of Brass, by dividing some Meridian. 1878 C. H. Coote in Trans. New Shaks. Soc. 98 It was a ‘new map’ on a new projection made by one of the most eminent globe-makers of his time. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 986/2 In the history of *globe-making, the name of Ferguson, the mathematician, has an honourable place. |
| 1599 H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner F vij, [Artichokes] somewhat resemble Pine-apples, consisting of many skales, compacted *Globe-wise. 1698 Lister Journ. Paris (1699) 192 In the Orangerie were..two pair of Mirtles in Cases, cut Globe-wise. |
b. Special combinations:
globe-amaranth(us (see amaranth 3);
† globe-animal,
-animalcule, a minute globular locomotive organism (
Volvox globator);
globe-artichoke = artichoke 1;
globe-cock (see
quot.);
globe-crowfoot = globe-flower;
globe-daisy,
Globularia vulgaris;
† globe-dial, a sun-dial in the form of a globe;
† globe-fennel, some variety of fennel;
globe-fish, a fish of globular form,
esp. one of the Tetrodontidæ or Diodontidæ, which assume this shape by inflation;
globe-flower,
Trollius europæus, a ranunculaceous plant with yellow flowers;
globe-lamp, a lamp in which the light is protected by a globe;
globe-lightning = fire-ball 1;
globe-loadstone, a spherical magnet;
globe-ranunculus = globe-flower;
globe-sight, a front sight for a rifle, etc., consisting of a ball or disk;
globe-slater, a sessile-eyed crustacean of the genus
Sphæroma;
globe-thistle, a name for species of
Echinops;
globe-trot v. intr. [back-formation from
globe-trotter,
-trotting], to go globe-trotting; also
trans.;
globe-trotter, one who goes globe-trotting;
globe-trotting, extensive and hurried travelling over the world for the sake of sight-seeing;
globe-valve (see
quot.).
| 1733 Miller Gardener's Dict. (ed. 2) I, Amarantoides, *Globe Amaranthus or Everlasting Flower. 1755 Johnson (citing Miller), Globe amaranth. |
| 1806 P. Wakefield Dom. Recreat. vi. 92 The *globe animal, so named on account of its form, which is like a round ball without any appearance of head, tail, or fins. |
| 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 275 This little cell, so well known to the older observers as the *globe-animalcule or revolving-cell. |
| 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 219/1 *Globe Artichoke. 1882 Garden 11 Mar. 169/3 Now is a good time to make plantations of Globe Artichokes. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Globe-cock, formerly a sphere with a stem by which it was moved..now a circular disk of similar use, and retaining the name. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccli. 810 The globe flower is called..in English *Globe Crowfoote, Troll flowers, and Lockron gowlons. |
| Ibid. ii. cxciii. §7. 512 The blewe Daisie is called..in English blew Daisies and *Globe Daisie. |
| 1625 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 183 For gilding and working y⊇ *globe dialls {pstlg}3. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 372/2 A Ball, or Globe Dial, to shew the Hour without a Gnomon. |
| 1713 Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 190 Smooth *Globe-Fennel. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. 142 Fishes of a hard crustaceous skin..Sphærical..[as] Orbis Scutatus, *Globe-fish. 1735 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXIX. 113 Orbis lævis variegatus: The Glob-Fish. 1884–5 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 289 Tetrodontidæ..have received numerous popular names, such as swell-fish, bottle-fish, bellows-fish, egg-fish, globe-fish..etc. 1597 *Globe flower [see globe-crowfoot]. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. ii. 97 The..globe-flower. |
| 1788 B. Franklin Autobiogr. (1905) 381 The *globe lamps we were at first supply'd with from London. 1825 H. Wilson Mem. IV. 67 This room..was lighted by large, ground-glass, French globe-lamps, suspended from the cieling. 1897 Daily News 7 Jan. 6/7 The boatswain was taking a globe lamp into the forepeak. |
| 1888 Tait in Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 330/1 ‘*Globe-lightning’ or ‘fireball’. |
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. 170 Not to mention how hard a thing it is; first, to find the two Polary points in a *Globe-Loadstone [etc.]. |
| 1733 Miller Gardener's Dict. (ed. 2) I, Helleboro-Ranunculus, *Globe Ranunculus vulgo. |
| 1884 Harper's Mag. Aug. 367/1 At this short distance you don't care for the peep and *globe sights. |
| 1879 Rossiter Dict. Sci. Terms s.v. Globe, *Globe-slaters = Sphæroma. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccclxii. 990 Carduus Globosus..is called in English, *Globe Thistle, and Ball-Thistle. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 47 And he that inquireth into the little bottom of the globe-thistle, may finde that gallant bush arise from a scalpe of like disposure. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxvi. 404 Common Globe-thistle is so called from the flowers growing in globular heads. |
| 1883 Manch. Guardian 6 June 6/1 He drives from London to York..and is amusing; he *globetrots and is not amusing. 1883 Ld. R. Gower My Reminisc. II. 180 Nothing nowadays is easier and safer than to ‘globe⁓trot’ round the world. 1928 Observer 8 Apr. 5/7 You are never instructed, never globe-trotted. 1929 C. Day Lewis Transitional Poem i. 16 To..globe-trot with the wind. 1970 Oxf. Univ. Press Record xv. 3 Bill Waterfield..globe-trotted for several years after reading Botany at University College. |
| 1875 E. K. Laird (title) Rambles of a *globe-trotter in Australia, Japan, China, Java, India and Cashmere. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 1 It is no place of pilgrimage for the summary globe-trotter. |
| 1880 Daily News 6 May 4/8 The season for *globe-trotting..has seriously set in. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Globe-valve, 1. A ball-valve, one of a spherical shape... 2. A valve inclosed in a globular chamber. |
▪ II. globe, v. (
gləʊb)
Also 7
glob.
[f. prec.; cf. L. globāre.] 1. trans. To form into a globe. Also
refl.| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii, Yet is it [Self-respect, previously designated as ‘the radical moisture’ of ‘every worthy enterprize’] not incontinent to bound it self, as humid things are, but hath in it a most restraining and powerfull abstinence to start back, and glob it self upward from..any soile wherewith it may peril to stain itself. 1838 Emerson Addr. Cambridge, Mass. Wks. (Bohn) II. 191 The moral traits which are all globed into every virtuous act and thought. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 598 The great stars that globed themselves in Heaven. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career I. vii. 101 A small round brilliant moon hung almost globed in the depths of heaven. |
2. intr. To assume or have the form of a globe.
| 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iii. 275 My eyes globed luminous Through orbits of blue shadow. 1889 E. Arnold Lt. World v. (1891) 223 So the dew Globes on a grass-blade. |
Hence
ˈglobing ppl. a.| 1861 Thornbury Turner (1862) I. 30 The myriads of houses over which the black globing dome dominates. |