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Glite Dictionary
to go to earth

to go to earth

1 9.3
To hide from people to avoid trouble or attention
  • phrasal verb
  • Archaic
translation icon : esconderse
  • He often goes to earth whenever he needs to escape the pressures of fame.

Examples

  • When the story became public, she went to earth to avoid reporters.

  • He decided to go to earth after the scandal.

  • After the scandal broke, the mayor went to earth and refused all interviews.

  • Why did she go to earth during the investigation?

  • After the scandal, the celebrity decided to go to earth and live a quiet life away from the spotlight.

  • To avoid the media frenzy, she chose to go to earth for a while until things calmed down.

  • He often goes to earth whenever he feels overwhelmed by his busy schedule and needs time alone.

Synonyms

to hide out
vsto go to earth
  • Informal
76 5.6

To stay in a secret place to avoid danger or trouble

involves retreating from public notice rather than just staying in one secret place
to hole up
vsto go to earth
  • Informal
63 6.8

To stay in a safe place and avoid going out, often to hide

focuses on leaving public view rather than simply remaining locked in one place
to go underground
vsto go to earth
22 7.4

To hide and work in secret to avoid arrest or attention

is a general retreat from public notice without implying political or illegal covert aims
to lie low
vsto go to earth
  • Informal
14 5.6

To stay out of sight to avoid trouble

is a deeper withdrawal from public view rather than brief concealment
to fly under the radar
vsto go to earth
  • Informal
9 5.9

To avoid being noticed by other people

means actively withdrawing from public notice rather than quietly blending into activity

Antonyms

to come out
526 2.3

To appear or become visible, for example when the sun shines through clouds

to face the music
  • Informal
19 4.5

Accept and deal with unpleasant results or criticism for something you did

How Hidden

to disappear
∞ 1.0
to go to earth
  • Archaic
1 9.3
to lie low
  • Informal
14 5.6

Surface Forms

go to earth infinitive
going to earth present participle
goes to earth third person singular
went to earth past
gone to earth past participle

Morphology

go + to + Earth

Given the provided constituent meanings ('go' = move, 'Earth' = the world/planet), a B1 learner would not be able to derive the sense 'to hide or retreat' from those parts; the idiomatic meaning comes from a hunting metaphor (animals going into burrows) and is not transparently built from the literal words. Because the intended meaning is culturally specific and not predictable from the listed word senses, it is not accessible to learners who only know the constituents.

Etymology

The phrase go to earth comes from hunting: a fox or rabbit would go into its den or hole in the earth to hide from hunting dogs. So today go to earth means 'to hide' or stay out of sight to avoid trouble or attention.