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What does the phrase "proud of the ground" mean?

Dear Mr Mountie

What does the phrase “proud of the ground” (as in “the bunker access hatch sits approx. one meter proud of the ground”) mean?

Yours Truly

Ed

Dear Ed

The word proud comes from the late Old English word prud or prute which probably heralds from the Old French prud which is an oblique case of the adjective prouz which means brave or valiant, and in turn comes from the Late Latin word prode, meaning advantageous.

As anyone who ever played a game of King of the Hill can attest, gaining height gives you an advantage over your enemy, in fact, height and advantage have been pretty much synonymous even before the invention of the Machicolation. Hence, the phrase “proud of the ground” refers to height, or advantage; the quality of having a superior or more favourable position.

Yours Truly

Mr Mountie

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