Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   Note: In the expressions ``to be, or dwell, upon land,'' ``to
         go, or fare, on land,'' as used by Chaucer, land
         denotes the country as distinguished from the town.

               A poor parson dwelling upon land [i.e., in the
               country].                          --Chaucer.

   3. Ground, in respect to its nature or quality; soil; as, wet
      land; good or bad land.

   4. The inhabitants of a nation or people.

            These answers, in the silent night received, The
            kind himself divulged, the land believed. --Dryden.

   5. The mainland, in distinction from islands.

   6. The ground or floor. [Obs.]

            Herself upon the land she did prostrate. --Spenser.

   7. (Agric.) The ground left unplowed between furrows; any one
      of several portions into which a field is divided for
      convenience in plowing.

   8. (Law) Any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever, as meadows,
      pastures, woods, etc., and everything annexed to it,
      whether by nature, as trees, water, etc., or by the hand
      of man, as buildings, fences, etc.; real estate. --Kent.
      Bouvier. Burrill.

   9. (Naut.) The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat;
      the lap of plates in an iron vessel; -- called also
      {landing}. --Knight.

   10. In any surface prepared with indentations, perforations,
       or grooves, that part of the surface which is not so
       treated, as the level part of a millstone between the
       furrows, or the surface of the bore of a rifled gun
       between the grooves.

   {Land agent}, a person employed to sell or let land, to
      collect rents, and to attend to other money matters
      connected with land.

   {Land boat}, a vehicle on wheels propelled by sails.

   {Land blink}, a peculiar atmospheric brightness seen from sea
      over distant snow-covered land in arctic regions. See {Ice
      blink}.

   {Land breeze}. See under {Breeze}.

   {Land chain}. See {Gunter's chain}.

   {Land crab} (Zo["o]l.), any one of various species of crabs
      which live much on the land, and resort to the water
      chiefly for the purpose of breeding. They are abundant in
      the West Indies and South America. Some of them grow to a
      large size.

   {Land fish} a fish on land; a person quite out of place.
      --Shak.

   {Land force}, a military force serving on land, as
      distinguished from a naval force.

   {Land, ho!} (Naut.), a sailor's cry in announcing sight of
      land.

   {Land ice}, a field of ice adhering to the coast, in
      distinction from a floe.

   {Land leech} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of
      blood-sucking leeches, which, in moist, tropical regions,
      live on land, and are often troublesome to man and beast.
      

   {Land measure}, the system of measurement used in determining
      the area of land; also, a table of areas used in such
      measurement.

   {Land, or House}, {of bondage}, in Bible history, Egypt; by
      extension, a place or condition of special oppression.

   {Land o' cakes}, Scotland.

   {Land of Nod}, sleep.

   {Land of promise}, in Bible history, Canaan: by extension, a
      better country or condition of which one has expectation.
      

   {Land of steady habits}, a nickname sometimes given to the
      State of Connecticut.

   {Land office}, a government office in which the entries upon,
      and sales of, public land are registered, and other
      business respecting the public lands is transacted. [U.S.]
      

   {Land pike}. (Zo["o]l.)
       (a) The gray pike, or sauger.
       (b) The Menobranchus.

   {Land service}, military service as distinguished from naval
      service.

   {Land rail}. (Zo["o]l)
       (a) The crake or corncrake of Europe. See {Crake}.
       (b) An Australian rail ({Hypot[ae]nidia Phillipensis});
           -- called also {pectoral rail}.

   {Land scrip}, a certificate that the purchase money for a
      certain portion of the public land has been paid to the
      officer entitled to receive it. [U.S.]

   {Land shark}, a swindler of sailors on shore. [Sailors' Cant]
      

   {Land side}
       (a) That side of anything in or on the sea, as of an
           island or ship, which is turned toward the land.
       (b) The side of a plow which is opposite to the moldboard
           and which presses against the unplowed land.

   {Land snail} (Zo["o]l.), any snail which lives on land, as
      distinguished from the aquatic snails are Pulmonifera, and
      belong to the Geophila; but the operculated land snails of
      warm countries are Di[oe]cia, and belong to the
      T[ae]nioglossa. See {Geophila}, and {Helix}.

   {Land spout}, a descent of cloud and water in a conical form
      during the occurrence of a tornado and heavy rainfall on
      land.

   {Land steward}, a person who acts for another in the
      management of land, collection of rents, etc.

   {Land tortoise}, {Land turtle} (Zo["o]l.), any tortoise that
      habitually lives on dry land, as the box tortoise. See
      {Tortoise}.

   {Land warrant}, a certificate from the Land Office,
      authorizing a person to assume ownership of a public land.
      [U.S.]

   {Land wind}. Same as {Land breeze} (above).

   {To make land} (Naut.), to sight land.

   {To set the land}, to see by the compass how the land bears
      from the ship.

   {To shut in the land}, to hide the land, as when fog, or an
      intervening island, obstructs the view.

Warrant \War"rant\, n. [OE. warant, OF. warant a warrant, a
   defender, protector, F. garant, originally a p. pr. pf German
   origin, fr. OHG. wer[=e]n to grant, warrant, G. gew["a]hren;
   akin to OFries. wera. Cf. {Guarantee}.]
   1. That which warrants or authorizes; a commission giving
      authority, or justifying the doing of anything; an act,
      instrument, or obligation, by which one person authorizes
      another to do something which he has not otherwise a right
      to do; an act or instrument investing one with a right or
      authority, and thus securing him from loss or damage;
      commission; authority. Specifically:
      (a) A writing which authorizes a person to receive money
          or other thing.
      (b) (Law) A precept issued by a magistrate authorizing an
          officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search, or
          do other acts incident to the administration of
          justice.
      (c) (Mil. & Nav.) An official certificate of appointment
          issued to an officer of lower rank than a commissioned
          officer. See {Warrant officer}, below.

   2. That which vouches or insures for anything; guaranty;
      security.

            I give thee warrant of thy place.     --Shak.

            His worth is warrant for his welcome hither. --Shak.

   3. That which attests or proves; a voucher.

   4. Right; legality; allowance. [Obs.] --Shak.

   {Bench warrant}. (Law) See in the Vocabulary.

   {Dock warrant} (Com.), a customhouse license or authority.

   {General warrant}. (Law) See under {General}.

   {Land warrant}. See under {Land}.

   {Search warrant}. (Law) See under {Search}, n.

   {Warrant of attorney} (Law), written authority given by one
      person to another empowering him to transact business for
      him; specifically, written authority given by a client to
      his attorney to appear for him in court, and to suffer
      judgment to pass against him by confession in favor of
      some specified person. --Bouvier.

   {Warrant officer}, a noncommissioned officer, as a sergeant,
      corporal, bandmaster, etc., in the army, or a
      quartermaster, gunner, boatswain, etc., in the navy.

   {Warrant to sue and defend}.
      (a) (O. Eng. Law) A special warrant from the crown,
          authorizing a party to appoint an attorney to sue or
          defend for him.
      (b) A special authority given by a party to his attorney
          to commence a suit, or to appear and defend a suit in
          his behalf. This warrant is now disused. --Burrill.