Part 599

Ear"less (?), a. Without ears; hence, deaf or unwilling to hear. Pope.

Ear"let (?), n. [Ear + - let.] An earring. [Obs.]

The Ismaelites were accustomed to wear golden earlets.

Judg. viii. 24 (Douay version).

Ear"li*ness (?), n. The state of being early or forward; promptness.

Earl" mar"shal (?). An officer of state in England who marshals and orders all great ceremonials, takes cognizance of matters relating to honor, arms, and pedigree, and directs the proclamation of peace and war. The court of chivalry was formerly under his jurisdiction, and he is still the head of the herald's office or college of arms.

Ear"lock` (?), n. [AS. eár- locca.] A lock or curl of hair near the ear; a lovelock. See Lovelock.

Ear"ly (r"l), adv. [OE. erli, erliche, AS. rlce; r sooner + lc like. See Ere, and Like.] Soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes; as, come early.

Those that me early shall find me.

Prov. viii. 17.

You must wake and call me early.

Tennyson.

Ear"ly, a. [Compar. Earlier (r"l*r); superl. Earliest.] [OE. earlich. √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.

Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.

Burke.

The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass springing up about them.

Hawthorne.

2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc.

Seen in life's early morning sky.

Keble.

The forms of its earlier manhood.

Longfellow.

The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer.

J. C. Shairp.

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.

Ear"mark` (?), n. 1. A mark on the ear of sheep, oxen, dogs, etc., as by cropping or slitting.

2. A mark for identification; a distinguishing mark.