Grotian 
first fully propounded by (Jrotius, that the controlling 
principles of human law, and particularly of international 
law, should be sought in the nature of man and in the 
community of sentiment among the wise and learned of 
all nations and ages, and that justice is of perpetual obli- 
gation, and essential to human well-being, 
grottat (grot'a), n. [It.: see grotto.] A grotto. 
Let it be turned to a grotto, or place of shade. 
Bacon, Building. 
grotto (grot'6), . ; pi. grottoes or grottos (-6z). 
[A mistaken form (as if It. masc.) of earlier 
grotto, (q. v.) (also grot 1 , q. v., = D. grot, < F.) = 
G. Dan. grotte = Sw. grotta = F. grotte, < It. grot- 
ta, f., = Sp. Pg. grata = Pr. crota, earlier crow- 
to = OF. crote, croute, a grotto, a cave, < ML. 
grupta, crupta, corrupt forms of L. crypta, 
an underground passage or chamber, a vault, 
cave, grotto, crypt : see crypt, which is thus a 
doublet of grotto.] A subterranean cavity; a 
natural cavern, or an ornamented excavation 
or construction more or less remotely resem- 
bling a natural cave, made for shade or recrea- 
tion. In the former case, the name is most commonly 
used for a cavern of limited size remarkable in some re- 
spect, as the Grotto del C'ane near Naples for its mephitic 
vapors, the grotto of Antiparos for its beautiful stalac- 
titic and stalagmitic formations, or the grottoes of Capri 
for their picturesqueness. Poetically the name is often 
applied to any deeply shaded inclosed space, as an umbra- 
geous opening in a dense wood, an overarched depression 
in the ground, etc. 
On the side of the hills over Salheia there are some 
grottos cat In the rock ; one of them is large, consisting of 
several rooms. Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i 126. 
Alas ! to grottoes and to groves we run, 
To ease and silence, every Muse's son. 
Po]*, Imlt of Horace, II. ii. 110. 
grotto-work (grot'6-werk), n. The arrange- 
ment and decoration of an artificial grotto; 
grotto-like structure. 
You [an oyster], in your grotto-work enclos'd, 
Complain of being thus expos d. 
Cowper, Poet, Oyster, and Sensitive Plant 
grouan (grou'an), n. Same as growan. 
groughtt, n. A bad form of gro irtli. Chapman. 
groult, ' An obsolete spelling of growl. 
ground 1 (ground), . and a. [< ME. ground, 
grund, < AS. grutid, bottom, foundation, the 
ground, earth, soil, = OS. grund = OFries. 
grund, grand = D. grond = MLG. grunt = 
OHG. MHG. grunt, G. grund, bottom, founda- 
tion, the ground, soil, etc., = Icel. grtinnr, m., 
the bottom (of sea or water), cf. griinn, n., a 
shallow, a shoal, grunnr, a., = Sw. Dan. grund, 
a., shallow, shoal (Sw. Dan. grand, the ground, 
is in this sense appar. of G. origin, and Icel. 
grund, f., a green field, grassy plain, appears to 
be a different word), = Goth, "grundus, bottom, 
base (in comp. griDtdu-wadfljus, a foundation, 
lit. 'ground-wall,' and deriv. afgrunditlia, bot- 
tomless deep: cf. G. abgrund = Dan. Sw. af- 
grund). Cf. Ir. grunnt, Gael, gruund, bottom, 
base, ground, prob. from the AS. Boot uncer- 
tain ; the supposition that ground, like LG. and 
G. grand, gravel, is from grind (AS. pp. grun- 
den), with the orig. sense of ' that which is 
ground' into small particles, i. e., sand, gravel, 
grit, dust, etc., does not suit the earliest sense 
of ground, which is 'bottom, foundation.'] I. 
n. 1. The bottom; the lowest part. [Obsolete 
or provincial.] 
Hi caste hire in a wel [very] deope water, hire heued to- 
ward the grounde. St. Margaret, 1. 242. 
Helle is with ute met [mete, measure], and deop with ute 
grunde. Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), p. 249. 
A lake that hathe no grounde. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 188. 
2. Foundation; base; a surface serving as a 
support, as a floor or pavement. 
Thilke Zarabazar cam, and sette the grounds of the tem- 
ple of God. Wydif, 1 Esd. [Ezra] v. 16 (Oxf.). 
Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock 'd the ground, 
And the press'd watch return 'd a silver sound. 
Pope, R. of the L., L 17. 
3. The solid part of the earth's surface; the 
crust of the globe ; the firm land. 
God that the ground wroght, 
And ttke a planet hase put in a plaine course, 
That turnys as there tyme comys, trist ye non other. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 422. 
I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are 
upon the ground. Jer. xxvii. 6. 
I will run as far as God has any ground. 
Shak., M. of V., ii. 2. 
4. The disintegrated portion of the earth's 
crust, lying upon its surface; soil; earth. 
Water myxt with grounde, the thridde avis is, 
Upshette aboute, and trampled with catell 
Maade playne and dried after. 
Palladium, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 86. 
And here the maiden, sleeping sound, 
On the dank and dirty ground. 
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 3. 
2634 
5. A limited part of the earth's surface ; a 
space or tract of country; a region. 
Fran. stand! who's there? 
H or. Friends to this ground. 
Mar. And liegemen to the Dane. 
ShaJc., Hamlet, i 1. 
Edward the Black Prince, 
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, 
Making defeat on the full power of France. 
Shak., Hen. V., L 2. 
There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood 
Seems sunk. . Cowper, Task, i. 305. 
6. Land appropriated to individual ownership 
or use ; cultivated land ; a landed estate or pos- 
session ; specifically, the land immediately sur- 
rounding or connected with a dwelling-house 
or other building and devoted to its uses: com- 
monly in the plural. 
Augustus . . . deprived them [of Cremona] of their 
ground*, and bestowed them upon his trained souldiers. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 138. 
Thy next design is on thy neighbour's ground*. 
Dnjden, tr. of Juvenal. 
While the elder parties were still over the breakfast 
table, the young people were in the grounds. 
Buluer, Night and Morning, p. 29. 
Rivulet crossing my ground, 
And bringing me down from the Hall 
This garden-rose that I found. 
Tennyson, Maud, xxi. 
7. Land appropriated to some special use (with- 
out reference to ownership), as the playing of 
games: as, base-ball grounds; cricket-jTrownrf*; 
hunting-<7'0Mrfs; hence, also, fishing-j/roMHtfe. 
8f. The pit of a theater. It was originally 
without benches, and on a level with the stage. 
Halliwell. 9. In mining: (a) Same as country, 
8. (6) That part of the lode or vein which is 
being worked, or to which reference is made. 
10. The basis upon or by means of which a 
work is executed, or upon which it rests for 
support or display ; a foundation, foil, or back- 
ground. 
And like bright metal on a sullen ground, 
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 2. 
Specifically (a) In painting, a basis for a picture, whe- 
ther it be of piaster, as in distemper or fresco, or only a gen- 
eral tone of color spread over the surface of a canvas and 
intended to show through the overlaid color if transpa- 
rent, or to relieve it if opaque. 
If folly grow romantic, I must paint it. 
Come then, the colours and the gruund prepare. 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 17. 
(o) In sculp., the flat surface from which the figures pro- 
ject: said of a work in relief. (c)IntcAtn0,acoatingofvar- 
itish applied to a plate as a basis to work upon ; in mezzo- 
tint, a roughening of the copper with a cradle for a like pur- 
pose. See etching and etching-ground. (rf)In decorative art, 
the original surface, uncolored, or colored with a fiat tint 
only as a preparation for further ornament. Thus, a back- 
ground may consist of slight scrollwork, fretwork, or the 
like, printed upon the ground, as in the case of decorative 
designs of considerable richness, figure-work, Bower-work, 
and the like, (e) In ceram., the colored surface of the body 
of a piece upon which painting in enamels or gilding is to 
be applied. See ground -laying and bossing, 1. (f) In lace, 
that part of lace which is not the pattern, of two kinds, 
one called the reseau or net, and the other the grillage. 
See these words and lace, (g) In music: (1) A cantus 
firmus, or melody proposed for contrapuntal treatment. 
For on that ground 111 make a holy descant. 
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 7. 
Especially (2) A ground bass (which see, und 
Welcome is all our song, is all our sound, 
The treble part, the tenor, and the ground. 
B. Jonson, Love's Welcome at Welbeck. 
(A) In textile manvj., the principal color, to which others 
are considered as ornamental ; that part of manufactured 
articles, as tapestry, carpeting, etc., of a uniform color, 
on which the figures are, as it were, drawn or projected. 
(/) One of the pieces nailed to lathing to form a guide for 
the surface of plastering, and to serve as a basis for stuc- 
co-work. 
The architraves, skirtings, and surbase mouldings are 
fixed to pieces of wood called grounds. 
Encyc. Brit., IV. 492. 
( j) The first coat of hard varnish in japanning. 
11. That which logically necessitates a given 
judgment or conclusion ; a sufficient reason ; 
in general, a reason or datum of reasoning; 
logical or rational foundation. 
She told hym all the grounde of the mater 
In euery thing, and how it was be fall. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S-X 1. 1086. 
Ill answer for 't there are no ground* for that report. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, 1. 1. 
That knowledge by which the mind is necessitated to 
affirm or posit something else is called the logical reason, 
ground, or antecedent ; that something else which the 
mind is necessitated to affirm or posit is called the logical 
consequent Sir If. Hamilton, Lectures on Logic, v. 
12. Source, origin, or cause. 
Necessity hath taught them Physicke, rather had from 
experience then the grounds of Art.' 
Sandys, Travafles, p. 66. 
ground 
That fable had ground of Historic, howsoener by fic- 
tions obscured. Purdut*, I'il^rimage, p. 341. 
O that their ground of Hate should be my Love ! 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 117. 
13f. ?'. Remnants; ends; scraps; small pieces. 
A fly made with a peacock's feather is excellent in a 
bright day : you must be sure you want not in your maga- 
zine-bag the peacock's leather, ami .'/rounds of such wool 
and crewel as will make the grasshopper. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 106. 
14. pi. [Formerly also grouns, groin**.] Sedi- 
ment at the bottom of liquors ; dregs ; lees : as, 
coffee-grounds; the grounds of strong beer. 
How much another thing it is to hear him speak, that 
hath cleared himself from froth and grown*, and who 
suffers neither sloth nor fear, nor ambition, nor any other 
tempting spirit of that nature to abuse him. 
Manell, Works, II. 131. 
15. In elect., a connection with the earth, so 
that the electricity passes off into it. 
The grounds were caused by little kernels or spots of 
carbonized insulation. Elect. Itev. (Amer.), XIIL 10. 
Absorbent grounds, barren ground, blue ground. 
See the adjectives. Bar of ground. See oori. Bass- 
ing-ground, fishing-ground for bass ; a place where bass 
may be caught. Dame Joan ground, a filling or ground 
used in point-lace, consisting of threads arranged in 
couples, and inclosing hexagon openings arranged like a 
honeycomb, two parallel threads coming between each 
two hexagons. Dark and bloody ground, a name 
often used for the State of Kentucky, on account of its 
having early been the scene of frequent Indian wars. It is 
said to be the translation of the name Kentucky, given to 
the region by the aborigines because opposing tribes often 
fought there on their resorting to it as a common hunting- 
ground. Dead, ground. Same asdmrf anyl*> (which see, 
under angled). Delicate ground, a matter with regard 
to which great delicacy or circumspection, especially in 
conversation, is necessary. Devonla ground, in lace- 
making, a kind of ground or filling composed of irregular 
brides, each of which, instead of a single thread, consists 
of at least two laid side by side, and held together by 
fine cross-threads. Firm ground, secure footing ; firm 
foundation. Happy hunting-grounds. See hunting- 
ground. Low grounds, bottom-lands. [Virginia, U. S.] 
On even ground. See eteni. On groundi, ashore ; 
aground. 
(The ship] had been preserved in divers most desperate 
dangers, having been on ground upon the sands by Flush- 
ing, and again by Dover, and in great tempests. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 289. 
On the ground, (a) On the earth, (d) At the spot or 
place mentioned; at hand. Slippery ground, insecure 
looting ; an uncertain or deceptive foundation. 
Honest Merit stands on slipjt'rif ground, 
Where covert artifice and guile abound. 
Cou-per, Charity, 1. 284. 
To be on one's own ground, to deal with a matter 
with which one is familiar. To bite the ground. See 
to trite the dust, under bite. to break ground. See 
break. To bring to groundt, set on groundt, to dis- 
comfit ; floor ; gravel. 
Hit greuys me full gretly, & to ground liryngen, 
Whethur Elan be so honorable, or of so hegn prise, 
dor hir, oure Dukes to dethe, & cure derfe kynges. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 0342. 
The Pharisees and Sadducees had no further end but to 
set Him "" ground, and so to expose Him to the contempt 
of the people. Bp. Andrews, Sermons, V. 127. 
To fall or go to the ground, to come to naught : as, 
the project fell to the ground. 
Alnaschar, who kicked down the china, . . . had cast 
his eye on the Vizier's daughter, and his hopes of her went 
to the ground with the shattered bowls and tea cups. 
Thackeray, Pendennis, Ixxii. 
To gain ground, (a) To advance ; make progress or 
head; gain an advantage ; obtain a degree of success, (o) 
To gain credit ; prevail ; become more general or exten- 
sive : as, the opinion gains ground. To gather ground. 
Same as to gain ground. [Rare.] 
As evening-mist 
Risen from a river o'er the marish glides. 
And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel 
Homeward returning. Milton, P. L., xiL 631. 
TO get ground. Same as to gain ground. (Rare.) 
There were divers bloody Battles 'twixt the Remnant of 
Christians and the Moors, for 700 Years together ; and the 
Spaniards, getting Ground more and more, drave them at 
last to Granada. Unwell, Letters, I. iii. 32. 
To give ground, to recede ; retire under the pressure of 
an advancing enemy ; yield advantage. 
Having made the Imperial army give Ground the Day 
before. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 6. 
To lose ground, (a) To retire ; retreat ; be driven from 
the position taken. (6) To lose advantage, (c) To lose 
credit; decline; become less in force or extent. To 
stand one's ground, to stand firm ; not to recede or 
yield. 
II. a. Pertaining to the ground, (a) Belone- 
ing to the ground or base ; hence, basic ; fundamental : as, 
the ground form of a word ; ground facts or principles. 
According to Mr. Berlin's theory, this people was the 
"ground race" of western Asia. Science, XII. 308. 
(6) Pertaining to the soil : as, ground air. (c) Situated on 
or nearest to the surface of the earth : as, the ground floor. 
Ground air. See ai'ri. Ground bass. See bast?. 
Ground floor. See floor. Ground form, in gram., a 
name sometimes given to the basis of a word to which the 
inflectional parts are added in declension or conjugation ; 
the stem or base of a theme (a Germanism). Ground tier. 
(a) The lower or pit range of boxes iu a theater. (6) A'utit. : 
