Land crab

Land crab
Land Land, n. [AS. land, lond; akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., Dan., and Goth. land. ] 1. The solid part of the surface of the earth; -- opposed to water as constituting a part of such surface, especially to oceans and seas; as, to sight land after a long voyage. [1913 Webster]

They turn their heads to sea, their sterns to land. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. Any portion, large or small, of the surface of the earth, considered by itself, or as belonging to an individual or a people, as a country, estate, farm, or tract. [1913 Webster]

Go view the land, even Jericho. --Josh. ii. 1. [1913 Webster]

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. --Goldsmith. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

A poor parson dwelling upon land [i.e., in the country]. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

3. Ground, in respect to its nature or quality; soil; as, wet land; good or bad land. [1913 Webster]

4. The inhabitants of a nation or people. [1913 Webster]

These answers, in the silent night received, The king himself divulged, the land believed. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

5. The mainland, in distinction from islands. [1913 Webster]

6. The ground or floor. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Herself upon the land she did prostrate. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

7. (Agric.) The ground left unplowed between furrows; any one of several portions into which a field is divided for convenience in plowing. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

9. (Naut.) The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat; the lap of plates in an iron vessel; -- called also {landing}. --Knight. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

{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} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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}. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The gray pike, or sauger. (b) The Menobranchus.

{Land service}, military service as distinguished from naval service.

{Land rail}. (Zo["o]l) (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} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • land crab — noun 1. : any of certain crabs chiefly of the family Gecarinidae of the coasts of warm countries that live mostly upon land and breed in the sea and that include many forms (as Gecarinus ruricola) that attain considerable size and are eaten by… …   Useful english dictionary

  • land crab — any of several crabs, esp. of the family Gecarcinidae, that live chiefly upon land, returning to the sea to breed. [1630 40] * * * ▪ invertebrate       any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically… …   Universalium

  • Land crab — Taxobox name = Gecarcinidae image caption = Cardisoma armatum regnum = Animalia phylum = Arthropoda subphylum = Crustacea classis = Malacostraca ordo = Decapoda infraordo = Brachyura superfamilia= Grapsoidea familia = Gecarcinidae subdivision… …   Wikipedia

  • land crab — n. crab which spends all or most of its life on dry land …   English contemporary dictionary

  • land crab — noun a crab that lives in burrows on land and migrates to the sea to breed. [Family Gecarcinidae.] …   English new terms dictionary

  • land crab — /ˈlænd kræb/ (say land krab) noun any of several crabs, especially of the family Gecarcinidae, which are partially adapted to terrestrial life. Land crabs of varied species occur in many tropical regions …  

  • land-crab — a person who is not a fisherman (Newfoundland) …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • land-crab — …   Useful english dictionary

  • great land crab — noun : a large swift moving dull grayish land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) of the family Gecarcinidae that is widely distributed from southern Florida and the West Indies to Brazil, is chiefly nocturnal, and lives in deep burrows or the open fields… …   Useful english dictionary

  • black land crab — noun : a large active burrowing land crab (Gecarcinus lateralis) that is widely distributed on the Caribbean islands and the northern coast of So. America …   Useful english dictionary

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