1. The loose soft material that makes up a large part of the surface of the land surface; SYN. ground.
2. (Archaic) Once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe.
3. The abode of mortals (as contrasted with heaven or hell).

The 3rd planet from the sun; the planet on which we live; SYN. world, globe.
Third planet from the Sun. It is almost spherical, flattened slightly at the poles, and is composed of three concentric layers: the core, the mantle, and the crust. About 70% of the surface (including the north and south polar icecaps) is covered with water. The Earth is surrounded by a life-supporting atmosphere and is the only planet on which life is known to exist.
mean distance from the Sun 149,500,000 km/92,860,000 mi.
equatorial diameter 12,756 km/7,923 mi.
circumference 40,070 km/24,900 mi.
rotation period 23 hr 56 min 4.1 sec.
year (complete orbit, or sidereal period) 365 days 5 hr 48 min 46 sec. Earth’s average speed around the Sun is 30 kps/18.5 mps; the plane of its orbit is inclined to its equatorial plane at an angle of 23.5ş, the reason for the changing seasons.
Atmosphere nitrogen 78.09%; oxygen 20.95%; argon 0.93%; carbon dioxide 0.03%; and less than 0.0001% neon, helium, krypton, hydrogen, xenon, ozone, radon.
Surface land surface 150,000,000 sq km/57,500,000 sq mi (greatest height above sea level 8,872 m/29,118 ft Mount Everest); water surface 361,000,000 sq km/139,400,000 sq mi (greatest depth 11,034 m/36,201 ft Mariana Trench in the Pacific). The interior is thought to be an inner core about 2,600 km/1,600 mi in diameter, of solid iron and nickel; an outer core about 2,250 km/1,400 mi thick, of molten iron and nickel; and a mantle of mostly solid rock about 2,900 km/1,800 mi thick, separated by the Mohorovicic discontinuity from the Earth’s crust. The crust and the topmost layer of the mantle form about 12 major moving plates, some of which carry the continents. The plates are in constant, slow motion, called tectonic drift.
satellite the Moon.
Age 4.6 billion years. The Earth was formed with the rest of the Solar System by consolidation of interstellar dust. Life began 3.5–4 billion years ago.

City in Texas (USA); zip code 79031.

1. To connect to the earth, as of a circuit.
2. To hide in the earth, as of a hunted fox.