adv. [ OE. erli, erliche, AS. &aemacr_;rlīce; &aemacr_;r sooner + līc like. See Ere, and Like. ] Soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes;
Those that me early shall find me. Prov. viii. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]
You must wake and call me early. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]
a.
Early and provident fear is the mother of safety. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]
The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass springing up about them. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]
Seen in life's early morning sky. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]
The forms of its earlier manhood. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]
The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer. J. C. Shairp. [ 1913 Webster ]
Early English (Philol.)
Early English architecture,
adj. being somewhat early. [ WordNet 1.5 ]