GROUND FLOOR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ground floor mean? 

• GROUND FLOOR (noun)
  The noun GROUND FLOOR has 2 senses:

1. the floor of a building that is at or nearest to the level of the ground around the building

2. becoming part of a venture at the beginning (regarded as position of advantage)

  Familiarity information: GROUND FLOOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GROUND FLOOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The floor of a building that is at or nearest to the level of the ground around the building

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

first floor; ground floor; ground level

Hypernyms ("ground floor" is a kind of...):

floor; level; storey; story (a structure consisting of a room or set of rooms at a single position along a vertical scale)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Becoming part of a venture at the beginning (regarded as position of advantage)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

he got in on the ground floor

Hypernyms ("ground floor" is a kind of...):

beginning (the event consisting of the start of something)

 Context examples 

The bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the central block of the buildings.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was all still and quiet upon the ground floor.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We found Mr. Micawber at his desk, in the turret office on the ground floor, either writing, or pretending to write, hard.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On the ground floor was the tutor’s room.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on the ground floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of the Red-headed League.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When I got to the top of the stairs—the house was only a story high above the ground floor—Traddles was on the landing to meet me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Besides the signs of a struggle in the room of the unfortunate builder it is now known that the French windows of his bedroom (which is on the ground floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as if some bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and, finally, it is asserted that charred remains have been found among the charcoal ashes of the fire.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were no carpets and no signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Arrived at Mr. Wickfield's house, I found, in the little lower room on the ground floor, where Uriah Heep had been of old accustomed to sit, Mr. Micawber plying his pen with great assiduity.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When the pony-chaise stopped at the door, and my eyes were intent upon the house, I saw a cadaverous face appear at a small window on the ground floor (in a little round tower that formed one side of the house), and quickly disappear.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)