▪ I. earnest, n.1
(ˈɜːnɪst)
Forms: 1 eornust, -ost, -est, 3 eornest, ȝorneste, 3–5 erneste, 3–6 ernest, 5 erneyst, 4–6 ernes, 6 earnes, 6– earnest.
[OE. eornust fem. = OHG. ernust fem., neut., MHG. ernest, mod.G. ernst masc., MDu. ernst, aernst (of similar meaning):—OTeut. *ernusti, perh. f. root *ers, found also in erre (obs.) anger. A different ablaut form of the same root, with similar suffix, appears to exist in OE. ornest wager of battle, ON. orrosta, late OE. orrest battle.
The form ernes may possibly represent a distinct word:—OE. ᵹeornes, (ᵹeornnes) eagerness, strength of desire; cf. earn v.3; it was however in 15th c. completely identified with the present word.]
† 1. Ardour in battle; in wider sense, intense passion or desire. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 16480 Þer wes fehte swiþe stor, eornest ful sturne. c 1250 Ibid. 16468 To fihte mid folle ȝorneste. 1297 R. Glouc. (1810) 121 Vortimer with gret power and god ernest ynow. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1285 The hote ernest [v.r. hervest] is al overblowe. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4840 And whanne they han her lust geten The hoote ernes they al foryeten. |
2. Seriousness, serious intention, as opposed to jest or play; esp. in phrase in († for) earnest, in good (sober, sad) earnest. In OE. on eornest means ‘earnestly’, also ‘in reality’. In mod. use to be in earnest, applied to persons, has sometimes an emphatic sense = to be earnest.
| c 1000 Wulfstan Addr. to English in Sweet Ags. Reader (ed. 5) 111 Gif we on eornost æniᵹe scame cuðan. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 411 Adam is to eue cumen, More for erneste ðan for gamen. a 1340 Hampole Psalter v. 6 Til perfite man it falles not to leghe nouþer in ernest ne in gamen. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v And this contek in ernes and in game Departed was betwixt love and shame. Ibid. i. vi, It is an ernest and no game. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 14/2 Arneste or erneste, seryowste. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon 328 Is it erneste that ye speke? c 1535 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 927 In earnes, a certes, For earnes, pour certes, Of earnes, de certes. 1570 Marriage Wit & Sc. iv. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 362 But in good earnest, madam, speak—off or on? 1636 Rutherford Lett. lxxv. (1862) I. 193, It were good to be beginning in sad earnest to find out God. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 373, I deal not now with this caitiff, never worth my earnest, and now not seasonable for my jest. 1729 Bp. Butler Serm., Self-Deceit 475 It never in earnest comes into their thoughts. 1745 Wesley Answ. Ch. 15, I am in great Earnest when I declare once more, that I have a deep conviction. 1855 Prescott Philip II, ii. vi. (1857) 102 It was no feint, but a surprise meditated in good earnest. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 207 Are you in jest or in real earnest? |
† b. ME. phrase: erte(n to ernest: to conduct to a serious result; erte(n in ernest: to bring seriously to pass. [Cf. OHG. uuart giuuentit in guota ernust ‘factus est in agonia’ Graff.]
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2942 Ertes ay to euyll ende & ernyst by the last. Ibid. 11634 For ertyng his exile in ernest. |
▪ II. earnest, n.2
(ˈɜːnɪst)
Forms: 3 dat. or acc. ernesse, 4 ernes, eernes, 5 ernys, 5–6 ernest, (5 arneste), 6– earnest.
[Of obscure etymology: presumably connected with the synonymous erles (see arles), erres (a. OFr. erres pl.); possibly it was altered from these after the analogy of derivatives in -ness.
The alleged OF. ernes, frequently given as the etymon, is spurious (Prof. Paul Meyer); the Welsh ernes is borrowed from Eng. At an early period app. confused with earnest n.1, the notion being that an ‘earnest’ was so called as showing that a bargain was made ‘in earnest’.]
1. Money, or a sum of money, paid as an instalment, esp. for the purpose of securing a bargain or contract. Also fig. A foretaste, instalment, pledge, of anything afterwards to be received in greater abundance. † Phrase, on (in, for) earnest: by way of earnest, as an instalment or foretaste.
The lit. sense is now nearly confined to law-books, and the fig. use, which retains its currency chiefly on account of its occurrence in the Bible, has almost ceased to be consciously metaphorical.
| a 1225 Juliana 17 Nu þu schalt on alre earst as on ernesse swa beon ibeaten wið bittere besmen. 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 142 Crist toke ernes here in þis world. Ibid. III. 61 He hadde answere of God, þat was eernes herto. 1424 R. Flore in E.E. Wills (1882) 59, I haue paied him a noble on ernest. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 14/2 Arneste or hanselle [or ernest H.P., ansal K.]. 1463 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 157 Item, my mastyr payd to hym in ernest that schuld make my ladys cloke, iijs. iiijd. 1499 Nottingham Borough Rec. MS. 1378. 5 Reseyved of ernys iijd. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 115 Thy ernest is layde, the bargen must abyde. It may nat be broke. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 685 As ye see,..after all bargaines, there is a signe thereof made, eyther clapping of hands..or giving some earnest. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. v. 65 It is an earnest of a farther good. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter iv. 11 An earnest seals the bargain. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 432 ¶12 The Earnest given me of something further intended in my Favour. 1800 A. Addison Reports 133 Plaintiff paid a guinea earnest. 1814 Wordsw. Excursion 1, The primrose flower Peeped forth, to give an earnest of the Spring. a 1830 Mackintosh More Wks. 1846 I. 397 The enthusiastic admiration with which the superior few feel an earnest of their own higher powers. 1845 Stephen Laws Eng. II. 69 If such portion be accepted by way of earnest. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xcvii, The days she never can forget Are earnest that he loves her yet. |
b. Comb., earnest-money, earnest-giver, earnest-penny.
| 1557 in Turner Records of Oxford 266 The ernyst money of the towne rents. 1616 Sir R. Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) I. 136, I delivered to..Capn. W{supm}. Hull xxli ster: as earnest money to buy casks for ffumadoes. 1698 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iii. i, I'm none of your earnest-givers. 1826 Kent Comm. Amer. Law (1873) II. xxxix. 494 If, therefore, earnest money be given..the contract is binding. |
† 2. Cant. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 37 Tip me my Earnest, Give me my Share or Divident. 1725 New Cant. Dict. |
▪ III. † ˈearnest, n.3 Obs.
? Mistake for OE. ornest single combat; the ground for the concluding statement in the quot. is unknown.
| 1591 Lambarde Arch. (1635) 44 If a French man doe appeale an English man of..murder, the French man may defend himselfe by Battaile, which was then termed in English, Ernest; a word that we keep yet, saying, when wee see a man fight, hee is an Ernest. |
▪ IV. earnest, a.
(ˈɜːnɪst)
Forms: 1 eorneste, 3, 6 ernest, (3 ernexst), 5 ernyst (? 7 earst), 6– earnest.
[OE. eorneste, f. earnest n.1; in ME. no unequivocal examples have been found; perh. the word died out in OE., and was afterwards developed afresh from the attrib. use of the n.]
1. Of persons: Serious, as opposed to trifling; usually in emphatic sense, intensely serious, gravely impassioned, in any purpose, feeling, conviction, or action; sincerely zealous. Of feelings, convictions, etc.: Intense, ardent. Of actions or words: Proceeding from or implying intensity of feeling or conviction.
In mod. use the word tends to exclude the notion of ungoverned or violent feeling, which in some earlier examples is prominent; cf. quot. 1670 under earnestness.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Thorpe) I. 386 Mid eornestum mode. a 1300 Cursor M. 26351 Clene and reuful..stedfast, ernexst, willi [? read ernest-willi]. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2713 The ernyst speche..of Elinus the Bysshop. 15.. R. Weaver Lusty Juv. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 99 Of an earnest professor of Christs Gospel Thou madest me an hypocrite. 1563 J. Man tr. Musculus' Common Pl. 372 a, Anye earnest or curiouse search thereof. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Agricola (1622) 186 Being yoong hee had addicted himselfe to the study of philosophie in earnester sort. 1591 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 316 My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. i. (1611) 54 An earnest longing desire to see things brought to a peaceable end. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 87, I..haue been An earnest aduocate to plead for him. 1611 Bible Hebr. ii. 1 We ought to giue the more earnest heede. 1628 Earle Microcosm., Flatterer, His chiding may seem but the earnester commendation. 1658 Dekker, etc. Witch Edmont. iii. i. Wks. 1873 IV. 391 I'll not turn from it, if you be earst Sir. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxvii. 141 The good lady..was very earnest in serving me of everything. 1793 Southey Triumph of Wom. 240 What though her Priests in earnest terror call On all their host of Gods to aid? 1830 D'Israeli Charles I, III. vi. 114 There was a good deal of earnest impetuosity in his temper. 1841–4 Emerson Ess. Self-Reliance Wks. (Bohn) I. 26 All history resolves itself..into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons. 1858 Edin. Rev. No. 217. 183 To [Arnold]..we owe the substitution of the word ‘earnest’ for its predecessor ‘serious’. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §22. 160 To say one earnest word in connexion with this ascent. |
b. Const. for, or inf. Somewhat rare.
| c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 302 The presbyterian faction were earnest to have the army disbanded. 1676 Temple Let. in Wks. 1731 II. 420 The Swede is earnest for a Peace. 1853 Arab. Nts. 377 Saony,..was earnest with the King to give the signal to the executioner. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. i. v. 61 Caraffa [was] earnest to introduce the inquisition. |
c. transf.
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 166 For the Earth, I say, is an earnest place. 18.. Longfellow Psalm of Life, Life is real, life is earnest. 1851 Carlyle Sterling, The Bible, most earnest of books. |
d. Comb. earnest-hearted, earnest-mild adjs.
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 409 If a little maid,..Should sigh within it, earnest-mild, This reed will answer evermore. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 53/2 A thoroughly good and earnest-hearted man. |
† 2. Of animals: Excited. Obs. rare.
| 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) C ij, If they [bees] be so earnest that you fear stinging your hands. |
3. Of things: Demanding serious consideration; weighty, important.
| 1544 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 26 We scholers have more ernest and weightie matters in hand. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. xxv. 180 Sir Charles had earnest business in town. |
▪ V. † ˈearnest, adv. Obs.
[OE. had eornoste adv., perh. instrum. case of eornost, earnest n.1, or f. the adj.; the later word is merely an advbl. use of the adj.]
= earnestly.
| 1629 J. Cole Of Death 44 The lesse the bodily members are occupied, the more earnester hee withdrawes himselfe to his cogitations. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xlvii. 516 Had not profited with that Queen, so earnest was she bent against the Duke of Chastelherault. 1791 Cowper Iliad iv. 453 Earnest they sued for an auxiliar band. |
▪ VI. † ˈearnest, v.1 Obs. rare.
[f. earnest n.1 or a.]
trans. a. To use in earnest. b. To render earnest.
| 1602 Pastor Fido E j (N.) Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. viii. (1632) 519 The study and plodding on bookes, is a languishing and weake kinde of motion, and which heateth or earnesteth nothing. |
▪ VII. † ˈearnest, v.2 Obs.
Also 5 ernest.
[f. the adj.]
To secure by giving or taking earnest.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (1835) 120 A nothir lovere..Wyth the ryng of hys feyth hath ernestyd me. 1630 Lord Banians Introd., I was willing to earnest his love to mee by this injunction. 1695 J. St. N. Widow's Mite 28 Election made sure, confirmed, sealed, witnessed, earnested by the peculiar Spirit of Adoption. |