Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Ground in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels ground as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Ground

[OE. ground, grund, AS. grund; akin to D. grond, OS., G., Sw., & Dan. grund, Icel. grunnr bottom, Goth. grundus (in composition); perh. orig. meaning, dust, gravel, and if so perh. akin to E. grind.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordground
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. ground, grund, AS. grund; akin to D. grond, OS., G., Sw., & Dan. grund, Icel. grunnr bottom, Goth. grundus (in composition); perh. orig. meaning, dust, gravel, and if so perh. akin to E. grind.]
Selected historical definitionThe surface of the earth; the outer crust of the globe, or some indefinite portion of it.
Signed record IDwebster1913-ground-noun-68807fc30385
Source locatorCIDE.G, paragraph 6173; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 663Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "ground" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. ground, grund, AS. grund; akin to D. grond, OS., G., Sw., & Dan. grund, Icel. grunnr bottom, Goth. grundus (in composition); perh. orig. meaning, dust, gravel, and if so perh. akin to E. grind.]" The selected historical definition says: "The surface of the earth; the outer crust of the globe, or some indefinite portion of it."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released G records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

adjective

Game

[Cf. W. cam crooked, and E. gambol, n.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Group

[F groupe, It. gruppo, groppo, cluster, bunch, packet, group; of G. origin: cf. G. kropf craw, crop, tumor, bunch. See Crop, n.]

Webster 1913 exact recordverb

Guess

[OE. gessen; akin to Dan. gisse, Sw. gissa, Icel. gizha, D. gissen: cf. Dan. giette to guess, Icel. geta to get, to guess. Probably originally, to try to get, and akin to E. get. See Get.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Grand

[OE. grant, grount, OF. grant, F. grand, fr. L. grandis; perh. akin to gravis heavy, E. grave, a. Cf. Grandee.]

Webster 1913 exact recordverb

Glad

[AS. gladian. See Glad, a., and cf. Gladden, v. t.]

Webster 1913 exact record

Browse released G records - browse all historical records.