FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Fun Trivia
Home: Questions and Answers Forum
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


Where did the term ground, grounded, grounding come from? Example: "If you don't stop that, I'm going to ground you," or "I can't go out, I'm grounded," or "My friend received a harsh grounding for skipping class."

Question #99496. Asked by ArrJay91.

Related Trivia Topics: Linguistics  
avatar
Percytherat star
Answer has 4 votes
Percytherat star
17 year member
63 replies avatar

Answer has 4 votes.
One opinion is that it comes from the early or WWII days of flying - a pilot refused permission to fly or goout is grounded

link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ground

Sep 17 2008, 4:04 PM
avatar
zbeckabee star
Answer has 5 votes
Currently Best Answer
zbeckabee star
Moderator
19 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 5 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
I'm finding the same thing:

Meaning "deny privileges" is 1940s, originally a punishment meted out to pilots (in which sense it is attested from 1931).

link http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=ground&searchmode=none

Sep 17 2008, 5:14 PM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion

Related FunTrivia Quizzes

play quiz What Do You Know About 'Grounded For Life'?
(Grounded For Life)
play quiz "Grounded for Life"
(Grounded For Life)
play quiz Grounded For Life
(Grounded For Life)

Return to FunTrivia
"Ask FunTrivia" strives to offer the best answers possible to trivia questions. We ask our submitters to thoroughly research questions and provide sources where possible. Feel free to post corrections or additions. This is server B184.