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earlier

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earlier


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  Early  and  provident  fear  is  the  mother  of  safety. 
  --Burke. 
 
  The  doorsteps  and  threshold  with  the  early  grass 
  springing  up  about  them  --Hawthorne. 
 
  2.  Coming  in  the  first  part  of  a  period  of  time,  or  among  the 
  first  of  successive  acts  events,  etc 
 
  Seen  in  life's  early  morning  sky.  --Keble. 
 
  The  forms  of  its  earlier  manhood.  --Longfellow. 
 
  The  earliest  poem  he  composed  was  in  his  seventeenth 
  summer.  --J.  C. 
  Shairp 
 
  {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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  earlier 
  adj  1:  occurring  earlier  in  time;  "on  earlier  occasions" 
  2:  (comparative  and  superlative  of  `early')  more  early  than 
  most  early;  "a  fashion  popular  in  earlier  times";  "his 
  earlier  work  reflects  the  influence  of  his  teacher"; 
  "Verdi's  earliest  and  most  raucous  opera"  [syn:  {earliest}] 
  adv  1:  earlier  in  time;  previously;  "I  had  known  her  before";  "as  I 
  said  before";  "he  called  me  the  day  before  but  your 
  call  had  come  even  earlier";  "her  parents  had  died 
  four  years  earlier";  "I  mentioned  that  problem 
  earlier"  [syn:  {before}] 
  2:  comparatives  of  `soon'  or  `early';  "Come  a  little  sooner,  if 
  you  can";  "came  earlier  than  I  expected"  [syn:  {sooner}] 
  3:  before  now  "why  didn't  you  tell  me  in  the  first  place?" 
  [syn:  {in  the  first  place},  {in  the  beginning},  {to  begin 
  with},  {originally}] 




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