ground

Universal Words noun, verb, adjective-see also GRINDv. noun surface of earth 1 (often the ground) [U] the solid surface of the earth: I found her lying on the ground. * He lost his balance and fell to the ground. * 2 metres above / below ground * Most of the monkeys' food is found at ground level. * ground forces (= soldiers that fight on land, not in the air or at sea) -< EARTH soil 2 [U] soil on the surface of the earth: fertile ground for planting crops area of land 3 [U] an area of open land: The kids were playing on waste ground behind the school. 4 [C] (often in compounds) (BrE) an area of land that is used for a particular purpose, activity or sport: a football / recreation / sports ground * ancient burial grounds seealsoBREEDINGGROUND, DUMPINGGROUND, PARADEGROUND, STAMPINGGROUND, TESTINGGROUND 5 (grounds) [pl.] a large area of land or sea that is used for a particular purpose: fishing / hunting grounds * feeding grounds for birds gardens 6 (grounds) [pl.] the land or gardens around a large building: the school / hospital grounds * The house has extensive grounds. area of knowledge / ideas 7 [U] an area of interest, knowledge or ideas: He managed to cover a lot of ground in a short talk. * We had to go over the same ground (= talk about the same things again) in class the next day. * You're on dangerous ground (= talking about ideas that are likely to offend sb or make people angry) if you criticize his family. * I thought I was on safe ground (= talking about a suitable subject) discussing music with her. * He was back on familiar ground, dealing with the customers. * They are fighting the Conservatives on their own ground. seealsoCOMMONGROUND, MIDDLEGROUND good reason 8 [C,usually pl.] ~ for sth / for doing sth a good or true reason for saying, doing or believing sth: You have no grounds for complaint. * What were his grounds for wanting a divorce? * The case was dismissed on the grounds that there was not enough evidence. * He retired from the job on health grounds. * Employers cannot discriminate on grounds of age. -> REASON in liquid 9 (grounds) [pl.] the small pieces of solid matter in a liquid that have fallen to the bottom: coffee grounds electrical wire 10 [C,usually sing.] (AmE) = EARTH(5) background 11 [C] a background that a design is painted or printed on: pink roses on a white ground IDIOMS cut the ground from under sb's feet to suddenly spoil sb's idea or plan by doing sth to stop them from continuing with it gain / make up ground (on sb/sth) to gradually get closer to sb/sth that is moving or making progress in an activity: The police car was gaining ground on the suspects. * They needed to make up ground on their competitors. get (sth) off the ground to start happening successfully; to make sth start happening successfully: Without more money, the movie is unlikely to get off the ground. * to get a new company off the ground give / lose ground (to sb/sth) to allow sb to have an advantage; to lose an advantage for yourself: They are not prepared to give ground on tax cuts. * The Conservatives lost a lot of ground to the Liberal Democrats at the election. go to ground (BrE) to hide, especially to escape sb who is chasing you hold / stand your ground 1 to continue with your opinions or intentions when sb is opposing you and wants you to change: Don't let him persuade you-stand your ground. 2 to face a situation and refuse to run away: It is not easy to hold your ground in front of someone with a gun. on the ground in the place where sth is happening and among the people who are in the situation, especially a war: On the ground, there are hopes that the fighting will soon stop. * There's a lot of support for the policy on the ground. run / drive / work yourself into the ground to work so hard that you become extremely tired run sb/sth into the ground to use sth so much that it is broken; to make sb work so hard that they are no longer able to work thick / thin on the ground (BrE) if people or things are thick/thin on the ground, there are a lot/not many of them in a place: Customers are thin on the ground at this time of year. * Security officers were thick on the ground during the King's visit. moreatEAR, FIRMadj., FOOTn., GAINv., HITv., MORALadj., NEUTRALadv., NEW, PREPARE, RIVETv., SHIFTv., STONY, SUITv. verb boat 1 when a boat grounds or sth grounds it, it touches the bottom of the sea and is unable to move: [VN] The fishing boat had been grounded on rocks off the coast of Cornwall. [also V] aircraft 2 [VN] [oftenpassive] to prevent an aircraft from taking off: The balloon was grounded by strong winds. * All planes out of Heathrow have been grounded by the strikes. child 3 [VN] [usuallypassive] to punish a child by not allowing them to go out with their friends for a period of time: You're grounded for a week! electricity 4 [VN] (AmE) = EARTH IDIOMS (be) grounded in / on sth (to be) based on sth: His views are grounded on the assumption that all people are equal. * These explanations are not sufficiently grounded in fact. seealsoGROUNDING adjective [onlybeforenoun] (of food) cut or crushed into very small pieces or powder: ground coffee