- Earliest
- Early Ear"ly, a. [Compar. {Earlier} ([~e]r"l[i^]*[~e]r);
superl. {Earliest}.] [OE. earlich. [root]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.
[1913 Webster]
Early and provident fear is the mother of safety. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass springing up about them. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc. [1913 Webster]
Seen in life's early morning sky. --Keble. [1913 Webster]
The forms of its earlier manhood. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer. --J. C. Shairp. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.