Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The world of the dead in various religious traditions, located below the world of the living.
  • noun A region, realm, or dwelling place conceived to be below the surface of the earth.
  • noun Archaic The world beneath the heavens; the earth.
  • noun The part of society that is engaged in and organized for the purpose of crime and vice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The world below the skies; this lower world; the sublunary world.
  • noun The opposite side of the globe; the antipodes.
  • noun The world below this world; the infernal world; the place or state of departed souls; Hades.
  • noun The lower, inferior, degraded part of mankind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The lower of inferior world; the world which is under the heavens; the earth.
  • noun The mythological place of departed souls; Hades.
  • noun rare The portion of the world which is below the horizon; the opposite side of the world; the antipodes.
  • noun rare The inferior part of mankind.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun That part of society that is engaged in crime or vice.
  • noun mythology The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (religion) the world of the dead
  • noun the criminal class

Etymologies

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