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ter crust of the globe, or some indefinite portion of it. There was not a man to till the ground. Gen. ii. 5. The fire ran along upon the ground. Ex. ix. 23. Hence:

A local tax paid by a ship for the ground or space it occupies while in port. Bouvier.

In a grounded or firmly established manner. Glanvill.

p. p. of Grind. Chaucer.

The act, method, or process of laying a groundwork or foundation; hence, elementary instruction; the act or process of applying a ground, as of color, to wall paper, cotton cloth, etc.; a basis.

Without ground or foundation; wanting cause or reason for support; not authorized; false; as, groundless fear; a groundless report or assertion. -- Ground"less*ly, adv. -- Ground"less*ness, n.

A spectator in the pit of a theater, which formerly was on the ground, and without floor or benches. No comic buffoon to make the groundlings laugh. Coleridge.

Solidly; deeply; thoroughly. [Obs.] Those whom princes do once groundly hate, Let them provide to die as sure us fate. Marston.

The fruit of the Arachis hypogæa (native country uncertain); the peanut; the earthnut.

See Ground

That which forms the foundation or support of anything; the basis; the essential or fundamental part; first principle. Dryden.

On the ground; stranded; -- a nautical term applied to a ship when its bottom lodges on the ground. Totten.

Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.

The ground or place for burying the dead; burial place.

On a painting, and sometimes in a bas-relief, mosaic picture, or the like, that part of the scene represented, which is nearest to the spectator, and therefore occupies the lowest part of the work of art itself. Cf. Distance, n., 6.

That part of a picture between the foreground and the background.

To found erroneously. "Misgrounded conceit." Bp. Hall.

Ground situated at a distance from the house; outlying land.

Situated over or above ground; as, the overground portion of a plant.

A piece of ground used for recreation; as, the playground of a school.