eager
English
editPronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈiɡɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈiːɡə/
- (US, dialectal) IPA(key): /ˈɪɡɚ/, /ˈɪɡə/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -iːɡə(ɹ)
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English egre, eger, from Old French egre (French aigre), from Latin acer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.
Alternative forms
editAdjective
editeager (comparative more eager, superlative most eager)
- Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
- Stacey is very eager to go cycling this weekend.
- The hounds were eager in the chase.
- I was eager to show my teacher how much I'd learned over the holidays.
- You stayed up all night to get to the front of the queue. You must be very eager to get tickets.
- 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
- When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
- a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.
- (computing theory) Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
- an eager algorithm
- (dated) Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
- gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself
- (obsolete, literal) Sharp; sour; acid.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 9:
- like eager droppings into milk
- (obsolete, figurative) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 157:
- If so thou thinkest, vex him with eager words.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 2:
- It is a nipping and an eager air.
Synonyms
editAntonyms
edit- (antonym(s) of “desirous”): averse, disinclined, reluctant, unwilling
Derived terms
editTranslations
editexcited by desire in the pursuit of any object
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Verb
editeager (third-person singular simple present eagers, present participle eagering, simple past and past participle eagered)
- (intransitive) To be or become eager.
- 1864, The Fathers, Historians, and Writers of the Church, page 121:
- Now everybody considered it a high privilege (valued it at a high consideration) to see him and to hear him speak, and to obey his command (him commanding), whereas he, though being such a person, eagered to be unknown, and to escape notice in solitude.
- 1913, William Alfred Quayle, The Climb to God, page 116:
- Our spirits fret and chafe like sea waves on the rocks eagering to climb the shore.
- 1932, William Faulkner, Light in August:
- The buggy jolted on, the stout, wellkept team eagering, homing, barning.
- 2002, Mark F. Harris, A Distant Place, page 198:
- After entering college, I eagered to have a parttime job.
- 2021, Bill Watson, The Chaos Factor:
- After the go-ahead from the joint committee, the Mugglesby CO warmed up and eagered up tremendously, and we went back to plotting.
- (intransitive) To express eagerness.
- 1924, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch - Volume 167, page 181:
- His hair crinkled towards her fondly. "Yes," he eagered.
- 1969, Kenneth Patchen, Sleepers Awake, page 141:
- Peg! eager voices eagered voicely.
- 2019, Toby Litt, Patience:
- […] Sister Clare saying Oh look a greenfinch and the name was a gift to me as much as the three and a half more minutes the green vision danced and fretted and eagered and preened in front of me […]
- (transitive) To make or encourage to be eager
- 2013, Andrzej Łyda, Krystyna Warchał, Occupying Niches, page 135:
- Physicians also admit to eagering patients to turn to specialised web sites in order to read further.
- 1927, Carleton Beals, Brimstone and Chili:
- But they only eagered him to be off .
- 1941, William R. Newell, Romans Verse-by-Verse:
- Its presence gave him no thought of condemnation, but only eagered his longing for the redemption body.
Etymology 2
editSee eagre.
Noun
editeager (plural eagers)
- Alternative form of eagre (tidal bore).
Further reading
edit- “eager”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “eager”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “eager”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːɡə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/iːɡə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eḱ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Theory of computing
- English dated terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Emotions