eager
See also: Eager and eagre
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈiɡɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈiːɡə/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iːɡə(ɹ)
Etymology 1
From Middle English egre, eger, from Old French egre (French aigre), from Latin acer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.
Alternative forms
- aigre (obsolete)
- eagre (obsolete)
Adjective
eager (comparative more eager or eagerer, superlative most eager or eagerest)
- 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, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], OCLC 1029642537:
- 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 223202227:
- a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess:
- 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 153628242:
- gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself
-
- (obsolete, literally) 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 606515358, [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 606515358, [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 606515358, [Act I, scene iv], page 2:
- It is a nipping and an eager air.
-
Synonyms
- (desirous): keen, raring, fain (archaic)
Antonyms
- (desirous): averse, disinclined, reluctant, unwilling
Derived terms
- eager beaver
- eager load
- eagerly
- eagerness
Translations
excited by desire in the pursuit of any object
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Etymology 2
See eagre.
Noun
eager (plural eagers)
- Alternative form of eagre (tidal bore).
Further reading
- eager in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- eager in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- eager at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- aeger, agree, eagre, geare, æger