Result from Foreign Dictionaries (3 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Early \Ear"ly\ ([~e]r"l[y^]), adv. [OE. erli, erliche, AS. [=ae]rl[imac]ce; [=ae]r sooner + l[imac]c like. See {Ere}, and {Like}.] Soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes; as, come early. [1913 Webster] Those that me early shall find me. --Prov. viii. 17. [1913 Webster] You must wake and call me early. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Early \Ear"ly\, a. [Compar. {Earlier} ([~e]r"l[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Earliest}.] [OE. earlich. [root]204. See {Early}, adv.] 1. In advance of the usual or appointed time; in good season; prior in time; among or near the first; -- opposed to {late}; as, the early bird; an early spring; early fruit. [1913 Webster] 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] 2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc. [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.) See the Note under {English}. {Early English architecture}, the first of the pointed or Gothic styles used in England, succeeding the Norman style in the 12th and 13th centuries. Syn: Forward; timely; not late; seasonable. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: early adv 1: during an early stage; "early on in her career" [syn: {early on}, {early}] 2: before the usual time or the time expected; "she graduated early"; "the house was completed ahead of time" [syn: {early}, {ahead of time}, {too soon}] [ant: {belatedly}, {late}, {tardily}] 3: in good time; "he awoke betimes that morning" [syn: {early}, {betimes}] adj 1: at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time; "early morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death"; "took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties" [ant: {late}, {middle}] 2: being or occurring at an early stage of development; "in an early stage"; "early forms of life"; "early man"; "an early computer" [ant: {late}, {later(a)}] 3: belonging to the distant past; "the early inhabitants of Europe"; "former generations"; "in other times" [syn: {early(a)}, {former(a)}, {other(a)}] 4: very young; "at an early age" 5: of an early stage in the development of a language or literature; "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is that used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C."; "Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700" [ant: {late}, {middle}] 6: expected in the near future; "look for an early end to the negotiations"