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more about earlier
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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