Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Obsolete forms of earn.
  • Same as earn.
  • noun A retired place or habitation: chiefly in composition. See etymology.
  • noun See earn.
  • noun A termination of Latin origin, occurring in nouns, as in cavern, cistern, lantern, tavern, etc., also in adjectives, as modern, but in adjective use generally extended with -al, as in eternal, fraternal, maternal, paternal, external, internal, infernal, supernal, etc.
  • Obsolete forms of earn.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A sea eagle, esp. the European white-tailed sea eagle (Haliæetus albicilla).
  • intransitive verb obsolete To stir with strong emotion; to grieve; to mourn. [Corrupted into yearn in modern editions of Shakespeare.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of erne.
  • verb To run; flow.
  • verb Scotland To (cause to) coagulate; curdle (milk) by adding rennet and applying heat.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To stir with strong emotion; grieve; mourn.
  • verb Scotland To pain; torture.
  • verb Scotland (of the eyes) To cause to water; smart.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bulky greyish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail; of Europe and Greenland

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of erne

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ernen, from Old English irnan, iernan ("to run, move quickly"), metathetic variant of rinnan ("to run"). More at run.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Of obscure origin. Perhaps an alteration of erme, from Middle English ermen, from Old English yrman, ierman. Compare also Old Scots urn, uren. More at erme.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ern.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.