grounding 
Fifthly, snake-stone is used, and the last finishes what 
is called the grounding [of marble ornaments]. 
0. i/rne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 379. 
ground-ivy (ground'i"vi), . A European plant, 
Nepeta Glechoma (Glechoma hederacea), natural 
order Labiata;, abundant in Great Britain, and 
naturalized in the United States. It has opposite 
crenate leaves and whorls of purple labiate flowers, which 
appear in spring. It was formerly held in much repute for 
its supposed tonic properties, and an herb-tea was made 
from it. Seealehoof. 
ground-joint (ground'joint), n. In mach., a 
kind of joint in which the surfaces to be fitted 
are previously covered with fine emery and oil 
in the case of metal, or fine sand and water in 
the case of glass, and rubbed together. 
ground-joist (grpund'joist), 11. In arch., one 
of the joists which rest upon sleepers laid on 
the ground, or on bricks, prop-stones, or dwarf 
walls, used in basements or ground floors. 
ground-keeper (ground'ke"per), n. A bird, as 
a woodcock, that hugs the ground closely. 
These very quick little fellows [woodcock] are old male 
ground-keepers. 0. Trumbull, Bird Names, p. 154. 
ground-layer (ground'la'er), . If. One who 
lays the groundwork or foundation. 
He was the ground-layer of the other peace. 
Stow, an. 160a 
2. In cerani., a person who lays grounds. See 
bossing, 1 . The ground-layers generally work with some 
form of respirator to prevent the inhalation of the color- 
dust. 
ground-laying (ground'la'ing), n. In ceram., 
the first process in decorating by means of 
enameled color. It consists in laying a coat of boiled 
oil upon the biscuit, and then leveling or bossing it (see 
bossing, 1) ; the color is then dusted on, and adheres to the 
oil. If it is necessary to have a white panel or medallion, 
that part of the piece is covered previously with an ap- 
Slication, called a stencil, which prevents the oil fromad- 
ering to the surface. Also called grounding. 
In fine enamelling, ground-laying is the first process. 
C. T. Dams, Bricks and Tiles, p. 89. 
groundless (ground'les), a. [< ME. groundles, 
< AS. grundleds, bottomless, boundless (= D. 
groiideloos = G. grundlos, bottomless, = Icel. 
grimnlauss, boundless, = Sw. Dan. grundlos, 
baseless), < grund, bottom, ground, + -leas, 
-less.] Without ground or foundation; espe- 
cially, having no adequate cause or reason ; not 
authorized ; baseless. 
How groundless that reproach is which is cast upon them 
of being averse to our national worship ! Freeholder. 
My groundless Fears, my painful Cares, no more shall 
vex thee. Steele, Conscious Lovers, v. 1. 
groundlessly (ground'les-li), adv. In a ground- 
less manner ; without adequate reason or cause ; 
without authority or support. 
Their title [friends of the Liberty of the Press] ground, 
lessly insinuated that the freedom of the Press had lately 
suffered, or was now threatened with some violation. 
Burke, Conduct of the Minority. 
groundlessness (ground'les-nes), n. The state 
or quality of being groundless. 
The error will lye, not in the groundlessness of the dis- 
tinction, but the erroneousness of the application. 
Boyle, Works, V. 549. 
ground-line (ground'Hn), . Infers/). .the line 
of intersection of the horizontal and the verti- 
cal planes of projection. 
groundling (ground'ling), n. and a. [< ground^ 
+ -ling 1 .'] 1. n. 1. That which lives upon the 
ground; a terrestrial animal. 2. A fish which 
habitually remains at the bottom of the water. 
Specifically (a) The spiny loach, Cobitis tcenia. Also 
ground-bait, ground-gudgeon, (b) The black goby, Gobius 
niger. Also grundel. 
3. The ring-plover, JEgialites hiaticula. [Lan- 
cashire, Eng.] 4. Formerly, a spectator who 
stood in the pit of a theater, which was liter- 
ally on the ground, having neither floor nor 
benches. 
0, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious peri- 
wig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to 
split the ears of the groundlings. Shak., Hamlet, Tii. 2. 
5. Hence, allusively, one of the common herd; 
in the plural, the vulgar. 
For we are born three stories high : no base ones, 
None of your groundlings, master. 
Fletcher (and another f), Prophetess, i. 3. 
The charge of embezzlement and wholesale speculation 
in public lands, of immense wealth and limitless cor- 
ruption, were probably harmless ; they affected only the 
groundlings. H. Adams, Albert Oallatin, p. 438. 
II. a. Of a base or groveling nature. [Rare.] 
Let that domicile [the stocks] for groundling rogues and 
earth-kissing varlets envy thy preferment. 
Lamb, Ella, p. 352. 
ground-liverwort (ground'liv*'er-wert), n. A 
lichen, Peltigera caiiina, which grows on the 
ground and bears some resemblance to the 
2636 
thalloid liverworts, as Alarchantia. Also called 
dog-lichen. 
ground-lizard (ground ' Hz " ard), n. 1. The 
small Jamaican lizard Ameir'a dorsalis. 2. A 
common harmless skinkof the southern United 
States, Oligosoma latetale. It is of a chestnut color, 
with a black lateral band edged with white, yellowish 
belly, and bluish under the tail, of slender form, and about 
. inches long. 
groundlyt (ground'li), adv. [Early mod. E. 
also groundely, groiendlie; < ground 1 + -fy 2 .] 
As to the basis or foundation ; with regard to 
fundamentals or essentials ; in principles ; sol- 
idly; not superficially ; carefully. 
And the more groundly it is searched, the precioser 
thynges are found in it. Tyndale, Works, p. 39. 
A man growndlie learned. 
Atclutiu, The Scbolemaster, p. 114. 
Af tor ye had read and groundely pondered the con ten tes 
of my letters than to you addressed. State Papers, i. 62. 
ground-mail (ground'mal), n. Duty paid for 
the right of having a corpse interred in a 
churchyard. [Scotch.] 
"Reasonable charges?" said the sexton; "on, there's 
grund-mail, and bell-siller (though the bell's broken nae 
doubtX and the kist, and my day's wark, and my bit fee, 
and some brandy and > ill to the drigie." 
Scott, Bride of Lammennoor, xxiv. 
ground-mass (ground'mas), n. In lithol., the 
compact or finely granular part of the rock, 
through which the more or less distinctly recog- 
nizable crystals are disseminated, and which is 
sometimes called the magma or base. Examined 
with the aid of the microscope, the ground-mass may be 
found to be entirely glassy, or it may be made up of the 
various products of devitrification, more or less completely 
developed according to the stage reached in this process. 
ground-mold (ground'mold), n. In civil engin., 
a templet or frame by which the surface of the 
ground is brought to a required form, as in ter- 
racing or embanking. E. H. Knight. 
ground-nest (ground'nest), n. A nest made on 
the ground. 
The herald lark 
Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry 
The mom's approach, and greet her with his song. 
Milton, P. R., ii. 280. 
ground-net (ground'net), n. A trawl-net or 
drag-net ; a trammel. 
ground-niche (ground'nich), n. In arch., a 
niche whose base or seat is on a level with the 
ground or floor. 
groundnut (ground'nut), n. 1. The ground- 
pea or peanut, the pod of Arachis hypogaea. 
See Arachis. 
Groundnut oil is an excellent edible oil, largely used as 
a substitute for olive oil. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 74fl. 
2. The earthnut, the tuberous root of Bunium 
flexuosum, an umbelliferous plant of Europe. 
3. The Apios tuberosa of the United States, a 
leguminous climber with small tuberous roots. 
Bambarra groundnut, the pod of Voandzeia subter- 
ranen, resembling the peanut Dwarf groundnut, the 
dwarf ginseng, Aralia trifolia, which has a round tuberous 
root. 
ground-oakt (ground'ok), n. A sapling of oak. 
Then Robin Hood stept to a thicket of trees, 
And chose him a staff of ground oak. 
Robin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads, V. 218). 
ground-parrakeet (ground'par-a-ket 1 '), . A 
parrakeet of the genus Pezoporus or of the ge- 
nus Geopsittacus. 
ground-pea (ground 'pe), n. The peanut. 
Sportsman's Gazetteer. 
ground-pearl (ground'perl), n. A scale-insect 
of the Bahamas, Margarodes formicarum, living 
under ground and acquiring a calcareous shell- 
like covering, somewhat like that of a mollusk. 
It is used for making necklaces by the natives, 
whence the name. 
ground-pig (ground'pig), n. 1. Same as ground- 
hog, 2. 21. Same as ground-rat. 
ground-pigeon (ground'pij'on), n. Same as 
ground-dote (b). 
ground-pine (ground'pin), n. 1. A tufted, 
spreading herbaceous plant of the genus Ajuga 
(A. Cham&pitys), natural order Labiata;, former- 
ly classed among the germanders, and said to 
be called pine from its resinous smell. 2. One 
of several species of Lyeopodium, or club-moss, 
especially i. clavatum, the common club-moss, a 
long creeping evergreen plant found in healthy 
pastures and dry woods in Great Britain and 
North America. It is also called running-pine and 
ground-fir. Another species is L. dendroideum, a graceful 
tree-shaped evergreen plant, about 8 inches high, grow- 
ing in moist woods in North America. 
ground-plan (ground'plan), . 1. In arch., the 
representation of the divisions of a building 
at the level of the surface of the ground; 
commonly, the plan of the lowest story above 
groundsill 
the cellar, though this is usually raised above 
the surface of the ground. Also ground-plot. 
Hence 2. A first, general, or fundamental 
plan of any kind. 
ground-plane (ground'plan), . The horizon- 
tal plane of projection in perspective drawing. 
ground-plate (ground'plat), n. 1. In builtliiiii. 
the lowest horizontal timber of a frame, which 
receives the other timbers of a wooden erec- 
tion; the groundsill. 2. In railway engin., a 
bed-plate used under sleepers or ties in some 
kinds of ground. E. H. Knight. 3. An earth- 
plate or piece of metal sunk in the ground 
to form the connection "to earth" from a tel- 
egraph-wire. Gas- or water-mains are often 
made to serve as ground-plates. 
ground-plot (ground'plot), TO. 1. The ground 
on which a building is placed. 
Where canst thou find any small ground-plot for hope 
to dwell upon ? Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii. 
2. Same as ground-plan, 1. 
Men skilled in architecture might do what we did not 
attempt ; they might probably form an exact ground-plot 
of this venerable edifice. Johnson, Jour, to Western Isles. 
ground-plum (ground'plum), n. A leguminous 
plant, Astragalus caryocarpus, found in the up- 
per valley of the Mississippi. Its thick corky 
pods resemble a plum in shape and size. 
ground-rat (ground'rat), n. An African rodent 
of the genus Aulacodus,A.swinderianus. Also 
called ground-pig. See cut under Aulacodus. 
ground-rent (ground ' rent), n. The rent at 
which land is let for building purposes, it is a 
common practice of owners of land in large cities who 
wish a permanent fixed income without care of buildings 
and frequent changes of tenants to let vacant land on long 
leases, with covenants for renewal, and with stipulations 
that the lessee shall build, and may remove the building 
before the end of the term, or shall allow the lessor to take 
it at an appraisal. 
In country houses, at a distance from any great town, 
where there is plenty of ground to choose upon, the ground- 
rent is scarce any thing. 
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, v. 2. 
ground-robin (ground'rob'in), n. Same as che- 
wink. 
ground-roller (ground'roler), n. One of the 
Brachypteraciinte, a group of rollers of the fam- 
ily Coraciidce, peculiar to Madagascar : so called 
from their terrestrial habits. 
ground-roomt (ground'rom), n. A room on the 
ground floor. Nares. 
The innkeeper introduced him into a ground room, ex- 
pressing a great deale of joy in so luckily meeting with 
his old friend. Great Britans amyeombe (1712), MS. 
ground-rope (ground'rop), . The rope along 
the bottom of a trawl-net. 
ground-scraper (ground 'skra* per), . The 
South African ground-thrush, Geocichla litsit- 
sirupa, formerly called Turdus strepitans. Sir 
Andrew Smith. 
ground-scratcher (ground 'skrach*er), . In 
Blyth's system (1849), specifically, one of the 
Rasores or gallinaceous birds. 
ground-sea (ground'se), n. A swell of the sea 
occurring in a calm, and with no other indica- 
tion of a previous gale . The sea rises in huge billows 
and dashes against the shore with a loud roaring. The 
swell is probably due to the gales called "northers," which 
suddenly rise and rage from off the capes of Virginia round 
to the Oulf of Mexico; it is also doubtless sometimes 
caused by distant earthquakes. 
groundsel 1 (ground ' sel), n. [Formerly also 
groundswell, groundeswell; Sc. dial, grundie- 
swally, grundieswallow, and even grinning-swal- 
low; early mod. E. also groneswell, greneswel 
(Levins, 1570); < ME. grundeswilie, grunde- 
swulie, < AS. grundeswelge, -swelige, -swylige, 
appar. meaning 'ground-swallower,' alluding 
to its abundant growth, as if < grund, ground, 
+ swelgan, swallow, but really a perversion of 
earlier gundeswilge, in earliest form gundae- 
swelgae, lit. 'pus-swallower,' < gund, pus, + 
swelgan, swallow: see ground* and swallow^,] 
The Senecio vulgaris, an annual European weed 
belonging to the Compositai, adventitious in the 
northeastern United States. It is emollient and 
slightly acrid, and is used as a domestic remedy for vari- 
ous ailments. The name Is sometimes applied generally 
to species of the genus Senecio. 
groundsel 2 , . See groundsill. 
groundsel-tree (ground'sel-tre), n. The Bac- 
charis halimifolia, a maritime shrub of the 
United States, a composite with leaves some- 
what resembling those of the groundsel. It is 
sometimes cultivated for ornament. See cut 
under Baccliaris. 
ground-shark (ground'shark), n. The sleeper- 
shark or gurry-shark, Somniosus microcephalus. 
groundsill, groundsel 2 (ground'sil, -sel), n. 
[Early mod. E. also groundsyll, grunsel, groun- 
