go to earth

go to earth

To hide at a location where one will not easily be found. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. I needed to go to earth at my vacation home after making that huge blunder at work.

See also: earth

go to earth

BRITISH

If you go to earth, you hide from someone or something. The girl who had supplied the guns stayed put for a couple of weeks before she, too, went to earth. Compare with go to ground. Note: A fox's hole is called an earth. In hunting, this expression is used to refer to a fox hiding in its earth.

See also: earth

go to earth

go into hiding.

Go to earth is used literally of a hunted animal hiding in a burrow or earth. Compare with go to ground (at ground).

See also: earth

go to ˈearth/ˈground

(British English) hide, especially to escape from somebody who is chasing you: His family never saw him again. He went to ground and they heard nothing else of him until he died last year.

This expression refers to a fox hiding underground when it is hunted.

See also: earth, ground