landing

Etymology

It is formed from English land + -ing,^[2][3][4] appearing in the 15th century, by Etymonline's account first as londing.^[5] Etymonline also allows an alteration of Old English lending under the influence of the noun.^[5] Compare Dutch landing, German Landung and Danish landing.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of coming to land or putting ashore: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the action, and soon also the place: Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford have the place on a shore where people or goods come off boats in the 15th century,^[5][3] though the OED's first quotation for it is of 1601, and the compound landing-place is recorded from the 1510s.^[5][2] On a staircase, the arrival at a stage is recorded from 1705 and the platform itself from 1789, in a translation of Aldrich's Architecture.^[2][5] For alighting after a flight, Etymonline has it by 1764, the OED from Lunardi's account of his first aerial voyage in 1784,^[5][2] and it was used of an airplane by 1909.^[5] In the coal mines of Northumberland and Durham a landing was a stopping place on the engine plane.^[7] Landing craft, for a military vessel, is recorded by 1934, and for a spacecraft by 1953.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – the act of coming to land, disembarkation.^[2]
• mid 15th century – a place on a shore for landing people or goods.^[5][3] The OED's first quotation is of 1601.^[2]
• 1692 – landing up, the blocking of a watercourse with earth or mud.^[2]
• 1705 – arrival at a stage, as on a staircase.^[2]
• 1764 – alighting on the ground after a flight.^[5] The OED's first quotation, from Lunardi, is of 1784.^[2]
• 1789 – a platform at the end of a flight of stairs or between two flights.^[2][5]
• 1847 – stone for staircase landings.^[2]
• 1860 – a term in mining, in a mining glossary.^[2]
• 1881 – coming to ground at the end of a leap.^[2][5]
• 1884 – in angling, bringing a fish to land; as an adjective, in landing force and landing party.^[2]
• 1909 – an airplane's alighting.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of coming or bringing someone to shore; disembarkation: the troops' landing on the beach.^[6][8][2]
2. The act of coming down onto the ground or another surface after a flight or a jump: The pilot made a smooth landing in a crosswind.^[6][8][2]
3. A place where passengers and cargo are put ashore or taken on board; a pier or quay.^[6][8][2]
4. The floor or platform at the top of a flight of stairs or between two flights.^[6][8][2]
5. A place or platform where logs are gathered before being moved on.^[6]
6. (mining) A place, usually on the bank, where ore is discharged from a mine.^[6]
7. In the plural, the amount of fish or shellfish caught each year in a given area.^[6]

Word family

• postlanding
• crash landing
• hard landing
• landing craft
• landing field
• landing gear
• landing net
• landing party

Related words

• land

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins