Definition of "ground floor" [ground floor]

• The floor of a building at or nearest ground level. (noun)
• Informal The beginning of a venture, especially regarded as a position of advantage: investors vying to get in on the ground floor of a development project. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Sude knew that the CIA was a likely target but remained in the CTC offices on the ground floor of the Agency, preparing to write the avalanche of reports about al-Qaeda she knew were likely to fill her coming days."
• "The ground floor had a restaurant-size kitchen, a dining room with a birch-wood table big enough for all the barnstormers to sit around simultaneously, a living room where the team meeting had been held, and several sitting areas."
• "Timepiece was the club everyone went to, but it had a ground floor where it would be quiet enough to talk, and Mae liked it okay, largely because of the indie music they played on Fridays."