• IPA: /ɡɹaʊnd/

ground

1. The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground.

   Look, I found a ten dollar bill on the ground!

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

2. (uncountable) Terrain.
3. Soil, earth.

   The worm crawls through the ground.

   The fox escaped from the hounds by going to ground.

4. (countable) The bottom of a body of water.
5. Basis, foundation, groundwork, legwork.
6. (chiefly, in the plural) reason, (epistemic) justification, cause.

   You will need to show good grounds for your action.

   He could not come on grounds of health, or on health grounds.

7. Background, context, framework, surroundings.
8. (historical) The area on which a battle is fought, particularly as referring to the area occupied by one side or the other. Often, according to the eventualities, "to give ground" or "to gain ground".
9. (figurative, by extension) Advantage given or gained in any contest; e.g. in football, chess, debate or academic discourse.
10. The plain surface upon which the figures of an artistic composition are set.

    crimson flowers on a white ground

11. In sculpture, a flat surface upon which figures are raised in relief.
12. In point lace, the net of small meshes upon which the embroidered pattern is applied.

    Brussels ground

13. In etching, a gummy substance spread over the surface of a metal to be etched, to prevent the acid from eating except where an opening is made by the needle.
14. (architecture, mostly, in the plural) One of the pieces of wood, flush with the plastering, to which mouldings etc. are attached.

    Grounds are usually put up first and the plastering floated flush with them.

15. (countable) A soccer stadium.

    Manchester United's ground is known as Old Trafford.

16. (electricity, Canadian and US) An electrical conductor connected to the earth, or a large conductor whose electrical potential is taken as zero (such as a steel chassis).
17. (countable, cricket) The area of grass on which a match is played (a cricket field); the entire arena in which it is played; the part of the field behind a batsman's popping crease where he can not be run out (hence to make one's ground).
18. (music) A composition in which the bass, consisting of a few bars of independent notes, is continually repeated to a varying melody.
19. (music) The tune on which descants are raised; the plain song.
    • 1592, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of Richard III, act III, scene vii, in: The Works of Shakeſpear V (1726), [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hgwUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA149&dq=%22On+that+ground+I'll+build+a+holy+descant.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kg-KUrCZMcaThQf63IHYCw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22On%20that%20ground%20I'll%20build%20a%20holy%20descant.%22&f=false page 149]:

      Buck[ingham]   The Mayor is here at hand; pretend ſome fear, // Be not you ſpoke with, but by mighty ſuit; // And look you get a prayer-book in your hand, // And ſtand between two churchmen, good my lord, // For on that ground I’ll build a holy deſcant: // And be not eaſily won to our requeſts: // Play the maid’s part, ſtill anſwer nay, and take it.

20. The pit of a theatre.

• (electricity) earth (British)

• lookfrom ground

• French: sol, terre
• German: Erde, Erdboden, Land, Grund, Boden
• Italian: suolo
• Portuguese: solo, chão
• Russian: земля́
• Spanish: suelo, tierra

• French: terre
• German: Erde, Boden, Erdreich
• Italian: terra
• Portuguese: solo, terra
• Russian: земля́
• Spanish: tierra

• French: fond
• German: Grund
• Portuguese: fundo
• Russian: дно
• Spanish: fondo

• French: base, fondation
• German: Grundfeste
• Portuguese: fundamento
• Russian: осно́ва
• Spanish: fondo, fundamento, base

• German: Hintergrund
• Russian: фон

• French: terrain de football, terrain
• Portuguese: campo
• Russian: по́ле
• Spanish: campo de futbol

• French: terre, masse
• German: Erde, Masseleitung, Masseverbindung, Erdung
• Portuguese: terra
• Russian: заземле́ние
• Spanish: polo a tierra, toma de tierra

• French: terre, masse
• German: Bezugspotenzial, Masse, Massepotenzial
• Portuguese: terra
• Russian: заземле́ние

ground (grounds, present participle grounding; past and past participle grounded)

1. (US) To connect (an electrical conductor or device) to a ground.

   Synonyms: earth

2. (transitive) To punish, especially a child or teenager, by forcing him/her to stay at home and/or give up certain privileges.

   Synonyms: gate

   If you don't clean your room, I'll have no choice but to ground you.

   Eric, you are grounded until further notice for lying to us about where you were last night!

   My kids are currently grounded from television.

3. (transitive) To forbid (an aircraft or pilot) to fly.

   Because of the bad weather, all flights were grounded.

4. To give a basic education in a particular subject; to instruct in elements or first principles.

   Jim was grounded in maths.

5. (baseball) To hit a ground ball. Compare fly (verb(regular)) and line (verb).
6. (cricket) (of a batsman) to place his bat, or part of his body, on the ground behind the popping crease so as not to be run out
7. (intransitive) To run aground; to strike the bottom and remain fixed.

   The ship grounded on the bar.

8. To found; to fix or set, as on a foundation, reason, or principle; to furnish a ground for; to fix firmly.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Ephesians 3:17 ↗:

     being rooted and grounded in love

   • So far from warranting any inference to the existence of a God, would, on the contrary, ground even an argument to his negation.

9. (fine arts) To cover with a ground, as a copper plate for etching, or as paper or other materials with a uniform tint as a preparation for ornament.
10. To improve or focus the mental or emotional state of.

    I ground myself with meditation.

• French: mettre à la terre
• German: erden
• Portuguese: aterrar
• Russian: заземля́ть
• Spanish: conectar a tierra, poner a tierra

• French: gronder, punir
• German: Hausarrest geben
• Portuguese: deixar de castigo (Brazil), castigar
• Spanish: castigar

• French: clouer au sol
• German: Startverbot erteilen

1. Simple past tense and past participle of grind

   I ground the coffee up nicely.

ground (not comparable)

1. Crushed, or reduced to small particles.

   Synonyms: milled

   ground mustard seed

2. Processed by grinding.

   lenses of ground glass

   • 2018, H Glimpel, HJ Lauffer, A Bremstahler, Finishing Tool, In Particular End Milling Cutter, US Patent App. 15/764,739

     An advantage of such a finishing tool is that, after the machining, the workpiece has high surface quality. The surface which is produced appears finely ground to polished by means of this procedure.

• French: haché, moulu
• German: gemahlen
• Italian: macinato
• Russian: мо́лотый
• Spanish: molido, picado