Talk:settle the land

RFV discussion: December 2022–February 2023
I can't find any genuine uses, 'tis listed manyfold in nautical dictionaries and the like. I was just using level 8 searching, though. Flackofnubs (talk) 15:35, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I found two uses of lay the land, sometimes listed as a synonym: Citations:lay the land. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 16:30, 28 December 2022 (UTC)


 * It appears as an example in Falconer's and Burney's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1815). I suppose Webster got it from there. I can't find usage. Equinox ◑ 16:32, 28 December 2022 (UTC)


 * (The definition given is "To cause the land to appear lower by receding from it.") If citations turn up, I'd be interested to see whether it seems like the whole phrase is idiomatic, or whether this is just a transitive use of ; we currently only recognize that sense as intransitive, but it seems like it may see some marginal transitive use (e.g. settling a ship lower). - -sche (discuss) 22:14, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I think in the case of lay the land the two citations above would suggest idiomaticity (no context in the first one and if it weren't a fixed phrase I imagine the second would just say "... laid these islands"). I found no trace of settle the land actually being used in published sources though. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 22:32, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

RFV Failed, hard to find non-literal use. Ioaxxere (talk) 19:43, 24 February 2023 (UTC)