Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A short line attaching an upper corner of a sail to the yard.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The forming of ears of corn.
- noun A plowing of land. See
ear . - noun A small rope attached to the cringle of a sail, by which it is bent or reefed.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A line used to fasten the upper corners of a sail to the yard or gaff; -- also called
head earing . - noun A line for hauling the reef cringle to the yard; -- also called
reef earing . - noun A line fastening the corners of an awning to the rigging or stanchions.
- noun Coming into ear, as corn.
- noun Archaic A plowing of land.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A
line used to fasten the upper corners of asail to theyard orgaff ; also called head earing. - noun archaic A
ploughing of land.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The word earing is an obsolete Saxon term by which our translators have rendered the
Commentary on Genesis - Volume 2 1509-1564 1996
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One of the topmen, Tom Hansard, was at the weather yardarm, and had hold of the earing, which isn't a bit like those gold things our sisters wear in their ears, but is a long rope which helps to reef the sails.
My First Cruise and Other stories William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Unless you are a preditor hurting others because you think you're "earing", until the day you become a parent you were only hurting yourself.
TONIGHT ON THE TERRORDOME: Lies and Truth about Afrikans in America 2007
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Unless you are a preditor hurting others because you think you're "earing", until the day you become a parent you were only hurting yourself.
Migden-Leno Primary Race Gets Even Uglier Ron Buckmire 2007
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My belief about clone hosts is the gods sold individuals on this "clone host rotation", compelling people to believe that "earing" was the way.
Happy 2008 2007
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It got on my nerves after a while 'earing' im being bumped on the floor every minute, or flung with 'is' ead into the fire-place.
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"earing," but the Revised Version "ploughing;" next in Ex. 34: 21 and Deut.
Easton's Bible Dictionary M.G. Easton 1897
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(Genesis 24: 22; Exodus 35: 22) "earing;" (Isaiah 3: 21; Ezekiel
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For some reason, the cover or Tendor Morsels looks like a zombie version of the painting Girl with a Pearl earing.
Book Cover Smackdown! Objects of Worship vs. Tender Morsels vs. Never Slow Dance With a Zombie 2009
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It has that Vermeer "Girl with a pearl earing" pose with an edge.
Book Cover Smackdown! Objects of Worship vs. Tender Morsels vs. Never Slow Dance With a Zombie 2009
chained_bear commented on the word earing
"'You and I and the Doctor must scrub ourselves from clew to earing and put on our birthday suits.'"
—Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 257
"One of a number of small ropes that fasten the upper corner of a sail to the yard." —A Sea of Words, 184
March 5, 2008
yarb commented on the word earing
Citation on bunt.
September 6, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word earing
"Earings, in a ship, are certain small ropes, employed to fasten the upper corners of a sail to its respective yard; for which purpose one end of the earing is spliced to the cringle, fixed in that part of the sail, and the other end is passed six or seven times round the yardarm and through the cringle, thereby fastening the latter to the former.... Every reef on a yard has its respective earings, which are passed in the same manner...."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 129
See also reef-earing.
October 13, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word earing
I arrived here after getting a clew.
July 12, 2015