from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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Note: 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.
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A poor parson dwelling upon land [i.e., in the
country]. --Chaucer.
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3. Ground, in respect to its nature or quality; soil; as, wet
land; good or bad land.
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4. The inhabitants of a nation or people.
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These answers, in the silent night received,
The king himself divulged, the land believed.
--Dryden.
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5. The mainland, in distinction from islands.
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6. The ground or floor. [Obs.]
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Herself upon the land she did prostrate. --Spenser.
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7. (Agric.) The ground left unplowed between furrows; any one
of several portions into which a field is divided for
convenience in plowing.
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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.
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9. (Naut.) The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat;
the lap of plates in an iron vessel; -- called also
{landing}. --Knight.
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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.
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{Land agent}, a person employed to sell or let land, to
collect rents, and to attend to other money matters
connected with land.
{Land boat}, a vehicle on wheels propelled by sails.
{Land blink}, a peculiar atmospheric brightness seen from sea
over distant snow-covered land in arctic regions. See {Ice
blink}.
{Land breeze}. See under {Breeze}.
{Land chain}. See {Gunter's chain}.
{Land crab} (Zool.), any one of various species of crabs
which live much on the land, and resort to the water
chiefly for the purpose of breeding. They are abundant in
the West Indies and South America. Some of them grow to a
large size.
{Land fish} a fish on land; a person quite out of place.
--Shak.
{Land force}, a military force serving on land, as
distinguished from a naval force.
{Land, ho!} (Naut.), a sailor's cry in announcing sight of
land.
{Land ice}, a field of ice adhering to the coast, in
distinction from a floe.
{Land leech} (Zool.), any one of several species of
blood-sucking leeches, which, in moist, tropical regions,
live on land, and are often troublesome to man and beast.
{Land measure}, the system of measurement used in determining
the area of land; also, a table of areas used in such
measurement.
{Land of bondage} or {House of bondage}, in Bible history,
Egypt; by extension, a place or condition of special
oppression.
{Land o' cakes}, Scotland.
{Land of Nod}, sleep.
{Land of promise}, in Bible history, Canaan: by extension, a
better country or condition of which one has expectation.
{Land of steady habits}, a nickname sometimes given to the
State of Connecticut.
{Land office}, a government office in which the entries upon,
and sales of, public land are registered, and other
business respecting the public lands is transacted. [U.S.]
{Land pike}. (Zool.)
(a) The gray pike, or sauger.
(b) The Menobranchus.
{Land service}, military service as distinguished from naval
service.
{Land rail}. (Zool)
(a) The crake or corncrake of Europe. See {Crake}.
(b) An Australian rail ({Hypot[ae]nidia Phillipensis});
-- called also {pectoral rail}.
{Land scrip}, a certificate that the purchase money for a
certain portion of the public land has been paid to the
officer entitled to receive it. [U.S.]
{Land shark}, a swindler of sailors on shore. [Sailors' Cant]
{Land side}
(a) That side of anything in or on the sea, as of an
island or ship, which is turned toward the land.
(b) The side of a plow which is opposite to the moldboard
and which presses against the unplowed land.
{Land snail} (Zool.), any snail which lives on land, as
distinguished from the aquatic snails are Pulmonifera, and
belong to the Geophila; but the operculated land snails of
warm countries are Di[oe]cia, and belong to the
T[ae]nioglossa. See {Geophila}, and {Helix}.
{Land spout}, a descent of cloud and water in a conical form
during the occurrence of a tornado and heavy rainfall on
land.
{Land steward}, a person who acts for another in the
management of land, collection of rents, etc.
{Land tortoise}, {Land turtle} (Zool.), any tortoise that
habitually lives on dry land, as the box tortoise. See
{Tortoise}.
{Land warrant}, a certificate from the Land Office,
authorizing a person to assume ownership of a public land.
[U.S.]
{Land wind}. Same as {Land breeze} (above).
{To make land} (Naut.), to sight land.
{To set the land}, to see by the compass how the land bears
from the ship.
{To shut in the land}, to hide the land, as when fog, or an
intervening island, obstructs the view.
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