land Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the land on which real estate is located
    • he built the house on land leased from the city
  2. noun material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)
    soil; ground.
    • the land had never been plowed
    • good agricultural soil
  3. noun territory over which rule or control is exercised
    domain; demesne.
    • his domain extended into Europe
    • he made it the law of the land
  4. noun the solid part of the earth's surface
    dry land; terra firma; earth; solid ground; ground.
    • the plane turned away from the sea and moved back over land
    • the earth shook for several minutes
    • he dropped the logs on the ground
  5. noun the territory occupied by a nation
    country; state.
    • he returned to the land of his birth
    • he visited several European countries
  6. noun a domain in which something is dominant
    kingdom; realm.
    • the untroubled kingdom of reason
    • a land of make-believe
    • the rise of the realm of cotton in the south
  7. noun extensive landed property (especially in the country) retained by the owner for his own use
    demesne; landed estate; estate; acres.
    • the family owned a large estate on Long Island
  8. noun the people who live in a nation or country
    country; nation.
    • a statement that sums up the nation's mood
    • the news was announced to the nation
    • the whole country worshipped him
  9. noun a politically organized body of people under a single government
    commonwealth; res publica; country; nation; state; body politic.
    • the state has elected a new president
    • African nations
    • students who had come to the nation's capitol
    • the country's largest manufacturer
    • an industrialized land
  10. noun United States inventor who incorporated Polaroid film into lenses and invented the one step photographic process (1909-1991)
    Edwin Herbert Land; Din Land.
  11. noun agriculture considered as an occupation or way of life
    farming.
    • farming is a strenuous life
    • there's no work on the land any more
  12. verb reach or come to rest
    set down.
    • The bird landed on the highest branch
    • The plane landed in Istanbul
  13. verb cause to come to the ground
    bring down; put down.
    • the pilot managed to land the airplane safely
  14. verb bring into a different state
    bring.
    • this may land you in jail
  15. verb bring ashore
    • The drug smugglers landed the heroin on the beach of the island
  16. verb deliver (a blow)
    • He landed several blows on his opponent's head
  17. verb arrive on shore
    set ashore; shore.
    • The ship landed in Pearl Harbor
  18. verb shoot at and force to come down
    down; shoot down.
    • the enemy landed several of our aircraft

WordNet

Land noun
Definitions
  1. Urine. See Lant. Obs.
Land noun
Etymology
AS. land, lond; akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., Dan., and Goth. land.
Definitions
  1. The solid part of the surface of the earth; -- opposed to water as constituting a part of such surface, especially to oceans and seas; as, to sight land after a long voyage.
    They turn their heads to sea, their sterns to land. Dryden.
  2. Any portion, large or small, of the surface of the earth, considered by itself, or as belonging to an individual or a people, as a country, estate, farm, or tract.
    Go view the land, even Jericho. Josh. ii. 1.
    Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. Goldsmith.
    Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honor sinks where commerce long prevails. Goldsmith.(The captivity, an Oratorio. Act II line 91)
    ✍ In the expressions "to be, or dwell, upon land," "to go, or fare, on land," as used by Chaucer, land denotes the country as distinguished from the town.
    A poor parson dwelling upon land [i.e., in the country]. Chaucer.
  3. Ground, in respect to its nature or quality; soil; as, wet land; good or bad land.
  4. The inhabitants of a nation or people.
    These answers, in the silent night received, The kind himself divulged, the land believed. Dryden.
  5. The mainland, in distinction from islands.
  6. The ground or floor. Obs.
    Herself upon the land she did prostrate. Spenser.
  7. (Agric.) The ground left unplowed between furrows; any one of several portions into which a field is divided for convenience in plowing.
  8. (Law) Any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever, as meadows, pastures, woods, etc., and everything annexed to it, whether by nature, as trees, water, etc., or by the hand of man, as buildings, fences, etc.; real estate. Kent. Bouvier. Burrill.
  9. (Naut.) The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat; the lap of plates in an iron vessel; -- called also landing. Knight.
  10. In any surface prepared with indentations, perforations, or grooves, that part of the surface which is not so treated, as the level part of a millstone between the furrows, or the surface of the bore of a rifled gun between the grooves.
Land transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Landed; present participle & verbal noun Landing
Definitions
  1. To set or put on shore from a ship or other water craft; to disembark; to debark.
    I 'll undertake top land them on our coast. Shak.
  2. To catch and bring to shore; to capture; as, to land a fish.
  3. To set down after conveying; to cause to fall, alight, or reach; to bring to the end of a course; as, he landed the quoit near the stake; to be thrown from a horse and landed in the mud; to land one in difficulties or mistakes.
Land intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To go on shore from a ship or boat; to disembark; to come to the end of a course.

Webster 1913