TERRA FIRMA • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Terra firma

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/tˈɛrə fˈərmə/ Listen

noun

Terra n. The earth; earth.

Terra alba (Com.), a white amorphous earthy substance consisting of burnt gypsum, aluminium silicate (kaolin), or some similar ingredient, as magnesia. It is sometimes used to adulterate certain foods, spices, candies, paints, etc.

Terra cotta. Baked clay; a kind of hard pottery used for statues, architectural decorations, figures, vases, and the like.

Terrae filius, formerly, one appointed to write a satirical Latin poem at the public acts in the University of Oxford; not unlike the prevaricator at Cambridge, England.

Terra firma, firm or solid earth, as opposed to water.

Terra Japonica. Same as Gambier. It was formerly supposed to be a kind of earth from Japan.

Terra Lemnia, Lemnian earth. See under Lemnian.

Terra ponderosa (Min.), barite, or heavy spar.

Terra di Sienna. See Sienna.

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Etymology of 'Terra firma'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Terra firma" Quotes from Famous Books

... it broadcast, as though he didn't care a rap whether he got solid earth beneath his feet once more, or went floating down the river. I wanted to propose a truce for such time as it would take to get us all safe on terra firma, but on second thoughts I refrained. We could get off without his help, and he was the sort of man who would cheerfully have gone to his last long sleep at the bottom of that boiling river rather than accept the assistance ...

— The Range Dwellers • B. M. Bower

... emissaries in that colony, and the peremptory requisitions of provision for St. Domingo by our Minister and generals. Had we been victorious in St. Domingo, most of our troops there were destined for the American Continent, to invade, according to circumstances, either the Spanish colonies on the terra firma or the States of the American Commonwealth. The unforeseen rupture with your country postponed a plan that is far from ...

— Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud, Complete - Being Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in London • Lewis Goldsmith

... Herald and Weekly Star and the Ashcroft Journal by candle-light; for those were the only papers he would subscribe for. His bed consisted of, first, boards, then straw, then sacking; and it had remained so long without being frayed out that it had become packed as hard as terra firma. His blankets had not seen the light of day, nor enjoyed the fresh cool breezes for many long years. His one window was opaque with the smoke of many years' accumulation. Although his chickens had a coop of their own where they roosted at night, they ran about the floor of ...

— Skookum Chuck Fables - Bits of History, Through the Microscope • Skookum Chuck (pseud for R.D. Cumming)

... a partially downward plunge—a fierce struggle on the shelving bank, where the animal had struck a few feet from the top—then the steed stood panting on terra firma, while a piercing shriek broke the deep silence of the wood, and Maggie's cheeks blanched to a marble hue. The rider, either from dizziness or fear, had fallen at the moment the horse first struck the bank, and from ...

— Maggie Miller • Mary J. Holmes

... loosin' a drum at the puir body as he endeavoured to escape the lichtenin' swoop o' the intrepid Scotsman. Wi' matchless skeel, Tam o' the Scoots banked over an' brocht the gallant miscreant to terra firma—puir laddie! If he'd kept ben the hoose he'd no' be lyin' deid the nicht. God ...

— Tam O' The Scoots • Edgar Wallace

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