Part 610

Eas"y (z"), a. [Compar. Easier (-*r); superl. Easiest.] [OF. aisié, F. aisé, prop. p. p. of OF. aisier. See Ease, v. t.] 1. At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth; as, easy manners; an easy style. "The easy vigor of a line." Pope.

2. Not causing, or attended with, pain or disquiet, or much exertion; affording ease or rest; as, an easy carriage; a ship having an easy motion; easy movements, as in dancing. "Easy ways to die." Shak.

3. Not difficult; requiring little labor or effort; slight; inconsiderable; as, an easy task; an easy victory.

It were an easy leap.

Shak.

4. Causing ease; giving freedom from care or labor; furnishing comfort; commodious; as, easy circumstances; an easy chair or cushion.

5. Not making resistance or showing unwillingness; tractable; yielding; complying; ready.

He gained their easy hearts.

Dryden.

He is too tyrannical to be an easy monarch.

Sir W. Scott.

6. Moderate; sparing; frugal. [Obs.] Chaucer.

7. (Com.) Not straitened as to money matters; as, the market is easy; -- opposed to tight.

Honors are easy (Card Playing), said when each side has an equal number of honors, in which case they are not counted as points.

Syn. -- Quiet; comfortable; manageable; tranquil; calm; facile; unconcerned.

Eas"y-chair` (z"*châr`), n. An armchair for ease or repose. "Laugh . . . in Rabelais' easy-chair." Pope.

Eas"y-go`ing (-g`ng), a. Moving easily; hence, mild-tempered; ease-loving; inactive.

Eat (t), v. t. [imp. Ate (t; 277), Obsolescent & Colloq. Eat (t); p. p. Eaten (t"'n), Obs. or Colloq. Eat (t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.] [OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. äta, Dan. æde, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. √6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.] 1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as oxen." Dan. iv. 25.

They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead.

Ps. cvi. 28.

The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.

Gen. xli. 20.

The lion had not eaten the carcass.

1 Kings xiii. 28.

With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat.

Milton.

The island princes overbold Have eat our substance.

Tennyson.