terra firma

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terra fir·ma

(fûr′mə)

Solid ground; dry land.

[New Latin : Latin terra, earth + Latin firma, feminine of firmus, solid.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

terra firma

(ˈfɜːmə)

the solid earth; firm ground

[C17: from Latin]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ter′ra fir′ma

(ˈfɜr mə)
n.

firm or solid earth; dry land (as opposed to water or air).

[1595–1605; < Latin]

terra firma

A Latin phrase meaning firm ground, used to mean the land as opposed to the sea.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

terra firma - the solid part of the earth's surface; "the plane turned away from the sea and moved back over land"; "the earth shook for several minutes"; "he dropped the logs on the ground"

dry land, ground, solid ground, earth, land

object, physical object - a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow; "it was full of rackets, balls and other objects"

archipelago - a group of many islands in a large body of water

beachfront - a strip of land running along a beach

cape, ness - a strip of land projecting into a body of water

coastal plain - a plain adjacent to a coast

earth, globe, world - the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on; "the Earth moves around the sun"; "he sailed around the world"

floor - the ground on which people and animals move about; "the fire spared the forest floor"

foreland - land forming the forward margin of something

timberland, woodland, forest, timber - land that is covered with trees and shrubs

island - a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water

isthmus - a relatively narrow strip of land (with water on both sides) connecting two larger land areas

land mass, landmass - a large continuous extent of land

mainland - the main land mass of a country or continent; as distinguished from an island or peninsula

neck - a narrow elongated projecting strip of land

oxbow - the land inside an oxbow bend in a river

peninsula - a large mass of land projecting into a body of water

champaign, plain, field - extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of his youth"

slash - an open tract of land in a forest that is strewn with debris from logging (or fire or wind)

wonderland - a place or scene of great or strange beauty or wonder

Translations

ferme

terra firma

[ˌterəˈfɜːmə] N → tierra f firme

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

terra firma

[ˌtɛrəˈfɜː^rmə] n
to be on terra firma → être sur la terre ferme

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

terra firma

n → fester Boden; to be on terra firma again → wieder festen Boden unter den Füßen haben

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

then the gentleman is going on terra firma?" replied Ned Land.

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And then they returned to terra firma, that is to say, to some passage that led them to the little girls' dancing-school, where brats between six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope of becoming great dancers one day, "covered with diamonds....

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Deep ruts and "cradle-holes" were worn in the ice, as on terra firma, by the passage of the sleds over the same track, and the horses invariably ate their oats out of cakes of ice hollowed out like buckets.

They went to work at once, plowing, barrowing, rolling, furrowing, in admirable order, as if they were bent on making this a model farm; but when I was looking sharp to see what kind of seed they dropped into the furrow, a gang of fellows by my side suddenly began to hook up the virgin mould itself, with a peculiar jerk, clean down to the sand, or rather the water -- for it was a very springy soil -- indeed all the terra firma there was -- and haul it away on sleds, and then I guessed that they must be cutting peat in a bog.

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Believe me, and take comfort, this is better for me than tons of gold and cases of diamonds, even were they not as problematical as the clouds we see in the morning floating over the sea, which we take for terra firma, and which evaporate and vanish as we draw near to them.

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She was silent a little after I had ceased speaking; then she inquired, "If you are so fond of a garden why don't you go to terra firma, where there are so many far better than this?"

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Around this fragment of terra firma grew reeds as lofty as trees are in Europe, and stretching away out of sight.

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It was a trembling and ashen-hued Usanga who tumbled out of the fuselage, for his nerves were still on edge as a result of the harrowing experience of the loop, yet with terra firma once more under foot, he quickly regained his composure.

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I had hooked the ladder beautifully to the inner sill of wood, and had also let down the extended rod for the more expeditious removal of both on our return to terra firma. Conceive my cold horror on arriving at the open window just in time to see the last of hooks and bending rod, as they floated out of sight and reach into the outer darkness of the night, removed by some silent and invisible hand below!

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The ocean and the land seem here struggling for mastery: although terra firma has obtained a footing, the denizens of the water think their claim at least equally good.

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It follows that if the whole area of terra firma is owned by A, B and C, there will be no place for D, E, F and G to be born, or, born as trespassers, to exist.

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However, though my little periagua was finished, yet the size of it was not at all answerable to the design which I had in view when I made the first; I mean of venturing over to the TERRA FIRMA, where it was above forty miles broad; accordingly, the smallness of my boat assisted to put an end to that design, and now I thought no more of it.