earl

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“
If we may believe them, the earl was at the very time in France negotiating on the part of the king a marriage with Bona of Savoy, sister to the Queen of France; and having succeeded in his mission, brought back with him the Count of Dampmartin as ambassador from

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A British nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquis, corresponding to a count in continental Europe.
  2. noun Used as a title for such a nobleman.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • When I reached Wargrave Park; for an instant I half believed the earl was my father. —  Mary Jo Putney - The Rake.htm
  • But the effort to keep the truth from the earl was at least a worthwhile one. —  Mary Balogh - Daring Masquerade.html
  • And the earl might be angered if she made a claim on the boy when he had been generous enough to take upon himself all the expense and trouble of the child's upbringing and education. —  Mary Balogh - Daring Masquerade.html
  • I cannot believe the earl is altogether a bad man, Aled. —  Mary Balogh - Truly
  • Lady Chultney told Grandpapa that the earl is the most depraved man on Earth Lady Chultney also thought Lord Collinsworth killed his wife, when she was only visiting relatives in the north That is quite true, the poor dear. —  THE SEDUCTION OF SARA
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English erl, nobleman of high rank, from Old English eorl.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English erl, earlier eorl, earl, as a designation of rank, from Anglo-Saxon eorl, an earl, a nobleman of high rank, nearly equivalent to ealdorman (see alderman); first in the Kentish laws, but its common use as a title and designation of office begins with the Scandinavian invasion, through the influence of the cognate Icelandic Swedish Danish jarl, Icelandic orig. earl, in the earliest Scandinavian use a man above the rank of a ‘carl’ or churl, then, especially as a Norwegian and Danish title, an earl; the earlier Anglo-Saxon use occurs only in poetry, eorl, a man, especially a warrior (plural earlas, men, warriors, the people, as an army), = Old Saxon erl, a man, = Old High German erl, only in proper names; cf. Heruli, Eruli, the Late Latin form of the name of a people of northern Germany, prob. ‘the warriors,’ Old Saxon plural erlos, Anglo-Saxon eorlas, etc. Further origin unknown; it is impossible to derive eorl from ealdor, a chief, as has been suggested.
 

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/ərl/
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