▪ I. † earn, n. Obs. rare.
[OE. ærn = (by metathesis) ON. rann, Goth. razn:—OTeut. *razno(m; cogn. with rest. The OE. word is chiefly found in compounds, as bere-ern, hordern; see quots. under barn, saltern.]
A place, dwelling, hut.
| a 1000 Laws of Ine 57 (Bosw.) Bireþ into his ærne. 1664 Floddan F. iii. 25 Who had been shroud in shepherds earn. |
▪ II. earn, v.1
(ɜːn)
Forms: α. 1 earnian, 2–4 ernie(n, erne(n, 5 arne, 6–7 earne, 7– earn. β. 1 ᵹeearnian, 2 ȝearnien, iarnien, iernien, 6 ȝarn, yerne, yearne, yarn, (9 dial. yearn, yarn).
[OE. earnian, ᵹe-earnian, repr. an OTeut. type *aznôjan, f. *aznâ (ON. ǫnn) labour, properly field-labour, connected with Goth. asans, OHG. aran (whence MHG. erne, mod.G. ernte) harvest, Goth. asneis, OHG. esni hired labourer, OE. esne serf, labourer, man. The primary sense is therefore ‘to obtain as the reward of labour’. The OE. earnian corresponds in meaning with OHG. arnên, but in form with OHG. arnôn, which derives its sense ‘to reap’ independently from the n.
The ME. forms with initial ȝ or y may in some cases descend from OE. ᵹe-earnian; the mod. dial. forms with y prob. represent the simple vb.; cf. yerth, yale for earth, ale (OE. ealo).]
1. trans. To render an equivalent in labour or service for (wages); hence, to obtain or deserve (money, praise, any advantage) as the reward of labour. In early use in wider sense: To deserve; to obtain as a recompense. (In OE. the simple vb. governs the genit. case, the compound ᵹe-earnian the accusative.)
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. in Sweet Ags. Reader (ed. 5) ix. 47 Wuton agifan ðæm esne [Orpheus] his wif, for ðæm he hi hæfð ᵹeearnad mid his hearpunga. a 1000 Guthlac 767 (Gr.) Soðfæstra saula..earniað on eorðan ecan lifes. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 223 Þat hi sceoldan mid edmodnisse & mid hersamnisse ȝearnie þa wuniunge on hefe rice. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 93 Þet ðeo edmode isomnunge iernade et gode, þet muchel er þe engles.. forluren. a 1529 Skelton Vox Populi i. 339 Yoke man..trewly his goodes to yerne. 1529 Lyndesay Complaynt 50 Lang seruyce ȝarnis ay rewaird. 1591 Nashe Prognost. 23 Many shall drinke more than they can yearne. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 107 There was earned in four years..the summe of four Millions. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. 286 These praises..have been dearly earned. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugg. i. i. 8 Do they all earn wages? 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 359, ‘I must..yearn my own living.’ 1851 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. i. xv. §11 The effort of men to earn, rather than to receive, their salvation. 1863 Barry Dockyard Econ. 147 Go into any private workshop where old men are earning as much as young men, and you will find that they are earning it. |
b. Of qualities or actions: To procure as a direct consequence (a name, reputation, etc.) for a person.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. i. 40 The which shal nought to you but foule dishonor yearne. 1876 Green Short Hist. iii. §7 (1882) 148 The stern justice of his rule earned the hatred of the disorderly baronage. Mod. His eccentricities had earned for him the nickname of ‘The Madman’. |
c. Of money invested; also of an implement, etc.: To be the means of producing (an income or money return).
| 1887 Times (weekly ed.) 30 Sept. 1/4 The line..would earn at least four per cent. |
† d. intr. To do work for (a reward or result).
| 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 148 Now Mars..Anchises and Adonis..May earne for babes, for Vulcan shall be parent at their birth. |
† 2. absol. To deserve well or ill. Obs. [cf. L. bene mereri.]
| 961 Eadgifu Charter in Sweet Ags. Reader (ed. 5) 55 Heo ne dorste..hem swa leanian swa he hire to ᵹeearnud hæfde. 1622 Dekker, etc. Virgin Mart. iv. i. Wks. 1873 IV. 59 A piece of Roman gold With Cæsar's stamp, such as he sends his captains When in the wars they earn well. |
3. [cf. OHG. arnôn to reap.] To glean. dial.
| 1876 Mid. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.). |
Hence earned ppl. a., purchased by an equivalent in labour; esp. in phrases well-earned, hardly-earned.
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 75 The well earned promotion. 1885 Pall Mall G. 10 Feb. 11/2 Unearned incomes should be taxed before earned incomes. |
Add: [1.] e. Baseball. To score (a run) or reach (a base) without an error being made by the fielding side.
| 1867 Ball Players' Chron. 6 June 2/2 The Harvards went in for some fine batting, Ames leading off and being well followed by McKim, Shaw and Willard, all but McKim earning their bases by their hits. 1880 N. Brooks Fairport Nine xiv. 182 They succeeded in earning two runs before they were retired. 1945 Athol (Mass.) Daily News 14 May 4/1 Athol earned three of its four runs during the day. 1989 R. MacNeil Wordstruck iv. 119 He despatched my first few balls smartly, earning three runs. |
[f. earn v.1 + -ed.] Add: 2. Baseball. Of a run: scored without an error being made by the fielding side. earned run average, a statistical measure of a pitcher's performance computed by dividing the number of earned runs scored off his pitching by the number of innings he has pitched, and multiplying by nine; abbrev. E.R.A. s.v. E III. d.
| 1880 Inter-Ocean (Chicago) 21 June 8/4 In the fifth Farrell's two-baser,..and Walker's fumbled grounder gave the Champions two earned runs. 1947 Chicago Sun 17 Dec. 42/1 Leading the National League hurlers in effectiveness was Warren Spahn, Braves' southpaw, with an earned run average of 2.33. 1985 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 9 Oct. c3/1 He..had an earned-run average of 5.40. |
▸ earnout n. Finance a contractual provision whereby the seller of a business receives additional payments if the business achieves specified levels of future performance.
| 1971 J. A. Yeakel Earnout Business Combinations (PhD thesis, Univ. Florida) p. x, [Those] utilizing *earnouts most frequently were those commonly known as conglomerates in the financial press. 1993 Accountancy Oct. 29/3 We..concluded that the earn-out they had negotiated before acquisition was not going to be achieved using the strategy they were following. 2002 S. Gabehart & R. Brinkley Business Valuation Bk. v. 135 Earnouts are fairly common when a business has tremendous potential beyond its current operating performance and the seller seeks compensation for this upside in earnings. |
▪ III. † earn, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[app. identical with ME. erne (repr. both OE. iernan, metathetic var. of rinnan, run, and the causative ærnan = ręnnan): in OE. the prefix-vbs. ᵹe-rinnan, ᵹe-ręnnan, occur in the senses ‘curdle, cause to curdle’; the pple. ᵹeurnen ‘curdled’ is found in Leechdoms II. 230, 272, III. 278.]
intr. To curdle. Also trans. To curdle (milk), esp. for making into cheese.
| 1674 Ray N.C. Wds. 16 To Earn, to run as cheese doth..Var. Dial. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) I. 86 The kirns to kirn and milk to earn. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 250 When it [new milk] is ready to boil put in a quart of good cream, earn it. 1877 E. Peacock N.-W. Linc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Earn, to curdle with rennet. |
▪ IV. † earn, v.3 Obs.
Forms: (? 1 eornian), 6 erne, earne, 7 earn.
[app. a var. of yearn:—OE. ᵹeornian; cf. dial. ear for year. All the senses of the present word, exc. 3, also belong to the form yearn. The OE. eornian to murmur (Bosw.-T. in pres. pple. eorniᵹende), eornfulnes solicitude, eornlice diligently (Leechdoms I. 190), seem to show that the two forms go back to an early period; see Sievers Ags. Gram. (ed. 2) §212.
Prof. Skeat (s.v. yearn) considers that earn, yearn to grieve (sense 2 below) are of distinct origin from earn, yearn in the sense to desire. He regards the former as a corruption of ME. erme. But the development of sense from ‘desire’ to ‘sorrow’ presents no serious difficulty; and there is no clear evidence of confusion between the two words.]
1. intr. To desire strongly, to long. Also, to earn it. (? refl.)
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 76 My courage earnd it to awake. 1596 ― F.Q. i. i. 3 His hart did earne To proue his puissance. |
2. To be affected with poignant grief or compassion; also impers. it earns me.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iii. 3 My manly heart doth erne..for Falstaffe hee is dead, and wee must erne therefore. 1601 ― Jul. C. ii. ii. 129 That every like is not the same..the heart of Brutus earnes to think upon. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iv. vi, Alas poore wretch! how it earnes my heart for him! 1651 P. Sterry England's Deliverance (1652) 26, I do..with bowels tenderly Earning, warn and intreat, etc. |
3. ? To tremble. rare—0.
| 1611 Cotgr., Frissonner, to tremble, quake, shrug, shiuer, didder, shudder, earne, through cold or feare. |
4. Of hounds, deer, etc.: To utter a prolonged cry. See earning vbl. n.2 2.
▪ V. † earn, adv. Obs. rare.
[app. ME. eorne, OE. ᵹeorne eagerly, anxiously; cf. earn v.3]
Earnestly, longingly.
| 1230 Ancr. R. 44 Crieð him eorne merci & forgiuenesse. 1656 Trapp Comm. Matt. vii. 11 Who doubts but they prayed earn and earnestly, when they were in Bocardo. |
▪ VI. earn
var. form of erne, eagle.