early

adj

Etymology: From Middle English erly, erlich, earlich, from Old English ǣrlīċ (“early”, adjective), equivalent to ere + -ly.

1. At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.

   “at eleven, we went for an early lunch; she began reading at an early age; his mother suffered an early death”

   “Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.”

2. Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on time.

   “You're early today! I don't usually see you before nine o'clock.”

   “The early guests sipped their punch and avoided each other's eyes.”

3. After but close to the start of a period of time.

   “The play "Two Gentlemen of Verona" is one of Shakespeare's early works.”

   “Early results showed their winning 245 out of 300 seats in parliament. The main opponent locked up only 31 seats.”

4. In the starting hours of the day.

   “It's too early for this sort of thing. I'm not awake yet.”

5. Having begun to occur; in its early stages.

   “early cancer”

   “harvesting early peaches”

6. Of a star or class of stars, hotter than the sun.

adv

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-eri Proto-Indo-European *h₂éyeri Proto-Germanic *airi Proto-Germanic *airiz Old English ǣr Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Old English ǣrlīċe Middle English erly English early From Middle English erly, orely, arely, erliche, arliche, from Old English ǣrlīċe, ārlīċe (“early; early in the morning”, adverb), equivalent to ere + -ly. Cognate with Old Norse árliga, árla ( > Danish årle, Swedish arla, Norwegian årle, Faroese árla).

1. At a time before expected; sooner than usual.

   “We finished the project an hour sooner than scheduled, so we left early.”

   “I had children too early (in life), so my first baby arrived early.”

2. Soon; in good time; seasonably.

   “[T]thoſe that ſeeke me early, ſhall find me.”

   “You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear; / Tomorrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the blythe Newyear; […]”

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English erly, erlich, earlich, from Old English ǣrlīċ (“early”, adjective), equivalent to ere + -ly.

1. A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.

   “On my first day on the watch after leaving the shoplifting squad I paraded on earlies but had completely forgotten to take my ear ring off.”