Easter
proper noun
- holy time period for Christianity, usually in March or April
- family name
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈiː.stə/ / /ˈi.stəɹ/ / /ˈiːstə/ / /ˈistəɹ/
adj
Etymology: From Old English eastera, eastra. Compare norther, souther, wester.
- Eastern.
“In the mean while, as our apartment was a corner one, and looked both east and north, I ran to the easter casement to look after Drummond.”
“This is properly two, if not three towns — there being an Easter Anstruther and a Wester Anstruther, both burghs, besides a large fishing village […]”
- comparative form of east: more east
name
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English Ester, from Old English ēastre, seemingly from Ēastre, a proposed Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn whose festival is thought to have been celebrated around the vernal equinox. Further from Proto-West Germanic *Austrā, from Proto-Germanic *Austrǭ, derived from either Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”) or, more semantically plausible, from *austrą, *auzrą, a metathesized form of *wazrą (“spring (season)”), *-ǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”). The English word is cognate with German Low German Oostern (“Easter”), Old High German ōstarūn (modern German Ostern) and is possibly a doublet of east. Despite a modern folk etymology, not related to Ishtar. The verb is derived from the noun.
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: From Old English eastera, eastra. Compare norther, souther, wester.
- An easterly wind (a wind blowing from the east); especially, a strong one; a storm of such winds.
“A northeaster in one place may be an easter, a norther, or a souther in some other locality.”
verb
Etymology: From Old English eastera, eastra. Compare norther, souther, wester.
- To move toward the east.
“Off Tilbury the Alcyone's topsail-yard was carried away just forward of the slings; she set a jib-headed one; at Thames Haven the wind eastered ...”
“At 5 the wind eastered and came E. by N., that we went 2 knots […] .”