globe

Definitions

Globe comes straight from Latin globus, 'a ball or sphere.' Because the Earth is the most famous sphere we know, the word for 'a ball' became the word for the planet: 'the globe' = the world. A globe on a desk is a small ball-shaped model of that same planet. So one short word carries three steps: any sphere → a model of the Earth → the Earth itself.

Why It Means This

Globe is unusual because it holds an abstract shape and a concrete place in the same word. It began meaning simply 'a sphere,' then narrowed to 'the Earth' (our planet being the sphere that matters most), then was scaled down again to mean a tabletop model of the Earth. When you hear 'across the globe,' picture the planet; when you hear 'a glass globe,' picture the plain ball it started as.

Common Collocations

• 1.across the globe全球各地
• 2.around the globe环绕全球
• 3.spin a globe转动地球仪
• 4.a glass globe玻璃球罩

Example Sentences

• 1.

  People all over the globe watched the final match on TV.

• 2.

  She spun the globe and pointed at a tiny island in the Pacific.

• 3.

  The company now ships its products across the globe.

• 4.

  The lamp was topped with a frosted glass globe.

Easily Confused

globe vs world vs Earth — Earth is the scientific name of the planet (the third rock from the Sun). World leans toward human life and society on it (the modern world, change the world). Globe pictures the planet as one round ball you can travel across (around the globe, a desk globe). Use globe when the round, whole-planet image matters.