terra firma

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The Word of the Day for October 13 is:

terra firma   \tair-uh-FER-muh\   noun
     : dry land : solid ground

Example sentence:
     The passengers on the ocean liner looked forward to setting foot on terra 
firma at the end of the long voyage.

Did you know? 
     The etymology of "terra firma" hasn't been watered down a bit. The phrase 
comes directly from New Latin, where it literally means "solid land." When 
"terra firma" first set foot in English prose in the 17th century, it referred 
specifically to the dry land of continents or mainlands (as distinct from 
smaller, more water-bound landforms, such as islands), or even more 
specifically, to certain Italian mainland territories controlled by Venice. By 
the end of the 17th century, the broader sense of "terra firma" (any dry land) 
had also established footing. That sense remains firmly established to this 
day. Figurative use ("a theory built on the terra firma of facts," for example) 
is also common. The older senses, however, have since crumbled away.