glebe
See also: glebę and glèbe
English
Etymology
From Old French glebe, from Latin glaeba (“lump of earth, clod”). Doublet of gleba.
Pronunciation
- enPR: glēb, IPA(key): /ɡliːb/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -iːb
Noun
glebe (plural glebes)
- Turf; soil; ground; sod.
- 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
- Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
- Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke
- 1768, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
- (historical) In medieval Europe, an area of land, belonging to a parish, whose revenues contributed towards the parish expenses.
- (poetic) A field or meadow.
- 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, p. 151:
- Admiring glebes their amber ears unfold, / And Labour sleep amid the waving gold.
- 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, p. 151:
- (mining) A piece of earth containing ore.
Usage notes
- A number of places are named Glebe.
Derived terms
- glebe-house
- glebe-farm
- glebe-land
Translations
turf
|
area of land belonging to a parish
|
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡlɛ.be/
- Rhymes: -ɛbe
- Hyphenation: glè‧be
Noun
glebe f
- plural of gleba