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Earn

//ɜːn// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Initialism of European Academic and Research Network: a former computer network connecting universities and research institutions across Europe. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
  2. 2
    A river in Perth and Kinross council area, Scotland, which flows into the tidal River Tay.
Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of erne British, alt-of, alternative, dialectal

    "They gleamed on many a dusky tarn , Haunted by the lonely earn"

Verb
  1. 1
    To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work. transitive

    "You can have the s'mores: you earned them, clearing the walkway of snow so well."

  2. 2
    To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process. British, archaic, dialectal, transitive
  3. 3
    To strongly long or yearn (for something or to do something). British, dialectal, obsolete, transitive

    "And ever as he rode, his hart did earne / To prove his puissance in battell brave."

  4. 4
    earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages wordnet
  5. 5
    To receive payment for work or for a role or position held (regardless of whether effort was applied or whether the remuneration is deserved or commensurate). transitive

    "He earns seven million dollars a year as CEO.  My bank account is only earning one percent interest."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    Of milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process. British, dialectal, intransitive, obsolete
  2. 7
    To grieve. British, dialectal, intransitive, obsolete

    "[M]y manly heart doth erne. […] Boy, briſsle thy Courage vp: For Falſtaffe hee is dead, and wee muſt erne therefore."

  3. 8
    acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions wordnet
  4. 9
    To receive payment for work. intransitive

    "Now that you are earning, you can start paying me rent."

  5. 10
    To cause (someone) to receive payment or reward. transitive

    "My CD earns me six percent!"

  6. 11
    To achieve by being worthy of. transitive

    "to earn a spot in the top 20"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian, from Proto-West Germanic *aʀanōn, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną. This verb is denominal from the noun *azaniz (“harvest”).

Etymology 2

Probably either: * from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from earning (“(Britain regional, archaic) rennet”).

Etymology 3

A variant of yearn.

Etymology 4

From Scottish Gaelic Èireann, genitive singular of Èirinn (“Ireland”), closely related to the river name Erne.

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