Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Onto or on a shore, reef, or the bottom of a body of water: a ship that ran aground; a ship aground offshore.
- adv. On the ground: combat aircraft aloft and aground.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- On the ground; stranded: a nautical term signifying that the bottom of a ship rests on the ground for want of sufficient depth of water: opposed to afloat.
- Figuratively, brought to a stop for want of resources, matter, and the like: as, the speaker is aground.
Wiktionary
- adj. nautical Resting on the bottom. (refers only to floating craft).
- adj. obsolete, slang Stuck fast, stopped, at a loss, ruined; like a boat or vessel aground.
- adv. nautical Resting on the bottom. (refers only to floating craft).
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. On the ground; stranded; -- a nautical term applied to a ship when its bottom lodges on the ground.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. with the bottom lodged on the ground
- adj. stuck in a place where a ship can no longer float
Etymologies
- From Middle English agrounde, on grounde ("on ground"), equivalent to a- + ground. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Running aground occurs when the navigator misreads the chart, the skipper tries to cut a corner on a harbor entrance, there is silting moving of soft sand and mud at a harbor mouth, or the tide table is misinterpreted.”
“Paul wasn't able to implement collision detection (for this release), so the ship doesn't go "aground" when you hit the shore - maybe it will in the "Pro" version.”
“If the ship is aground, which is likely enough, for the captain pushed up farther than we thought possible, they will be pretty safe when they have once got past her. ”
“A honeymooning couple have been rescued from the submerged Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia more than 24 hours after it ran aground off the coast of Tuscany.”
The Guardian: Couple rescued from submerged ship Costa Concordia
“A passenger from South Korea walks with Italian firefighters after being rescued from the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP”
The Guardian: Couple rescued from submerged ship Costa Concordia
“Hours earlier, at 1.30am on Sunday morning, rescuers had followed cries for help to cabin No 838, where they found South Korean newlyweds Hye Jim Jeong and Kideok Han, who had chosen the Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon, boarding at Civitavecchia less than three hours before the ship went aground.”
The Guardian: Italian cruise ship owners question captain's judgment
“Preliminary indications suggest "significant human error" by the captain may have been to blame for the Costa Concordia cruise ship running aground, its owner Costa Cruises said in a statement.”
The Guardian: Cruise ship scene marked by modern totem of disaster in medieval harbour
“Maritime authorities and salvage crews had removed most of the thick, toxic fuel oil and nearly 400 containers from the ship, which ran aground in calm conditions on 5 October.”
The Guardian: Stern of cargo ship Rena sinking off New Zealand
“The 20-year-old was on stage performing a magic show when the ship ran aground.”
The Guardian: Costa Concordia: British passengers tell of escape
“Hours earlier, at 1.30am on Sunday, rescuers had traced cries for help to cabin No 838, where they found newlyweds Hye Jim Jeong and Kideok Han, who had chosen the Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon, boarding at Civitavecchia less than three hours before the ship went aground.”
The Guardian: Costa Concordia purser: 'I never lost hope of being saved'
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aground’.
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When a door is ajar
Words with the prefix "a"
ajar, asleep, akin, ablaze, afoot, abed, aground, aback, afloat, alive, abaft, abloom and 91 more...
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hard to sense
somewhat, somewhere, elsewhere, whereby, likewise, spite, ever, along, otherwise, whatever, whichever, hitherto and 116 more...
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Because I like them: A -- B
abacinate, aberdevine, ablepsy, abuccinate, acarology, acipenserine, abactor, adamantine, addressin, aeoline, ahimsa, agelast and 151 more...
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Other
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April 1st, 2013 A
My A words for the A-Z challenge.
acidic, atheist, athletic, aesthetic, arbitrary, abattoir, anachronistic, anchor, angry, angst, angelic, animosity and 10 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aground.
Comments
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