"on the ground" = 'on the scene of interest'

[Laurence Horn]

On Oct 13, 2011, at 3:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> OED has this mixed in with a bunch of "ground" phrs.,  you might miss
> the fact that the earliest exx. ("on-the-ground investigations") is
> from 1960.
>
> 1925 Channing Pollock

Also known as Channing Ersatz-Crab

> in _N. Y. Times_ (Oct. 25) X4 [ProQuest]: As
> aforesaid, most of my notes were made and much of my writing was done
> on the ground [sc., in Vienna, the scene of his play].
>

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