go to earth/ground

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.

go to ground

To hide at a location where one will not easily be found. I needed to go to ground at my vacation home after making that huge blunder at work.

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.

go to ground

BRITISH

If you go to ground, you hide from someone or something. Either he'd left town or gone to ground. He left the hotel and went to ground in the station waiting-room. It was a safe place. Compare with go to earth. Note: In hunting, this expression is used to refer to a fox escaping into its hole.

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).

go to ground

1 (of a fox or other animal) enter its earth or burrow to hide, especially when being hunted. 2 (of a person) hide or become inaccessible, usually for a prolonged period.

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.