Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To gain especially for the performance of service, labor, or work: earned money by mowing lawns.
- v. To acquire or deserve as a result of effort or action: She earned a reputation as a hard worker.
- v. To yield as return or profit: a savings account that earns interest on deposited funds.
- idiom. spurs To gain a position through hard work and the accumulation of experience, often in the face of difficulties.
- v. Obsolete To yearn.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To gain by labor, service, or performance; acquire; merit or deserve as compensation or reward for service, or as one's real or apparent desert; gain a right to or the possession of: as, to earn a dollar a day; to earn a fortune in trade; to earn the reputation of being stingy.
- In base-ball, to gain or secure by batting or base-running, and not by the errors or bad play of opponents: as, one side scored 5, but had earned only 3 runs.
- To glean.
- To curdle, as milk.
- n. An eagle. This is the original English name for the eagle. It is now chiefly poetical or dialectal, or used, as in zoölogy, in special designations like
bald earn . - To yearn.
- Same as yearn.
Wiktionary
- v. To gain (success) through applied effort or work.
- v. To receive (money) for working.
- v. To receive money for working.
- v. To cause (someone) to receive (money).
- n. eagle
- n. eagle
- n. miser
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. See ern, n.
- v. To merit or deserve, as by labor or service; to do that which entitles one to (a reward, whether the reward is received or not).
- v. To acquire by labor, service, or performance; to deserve and receive as compensation or wages
- v. To grieve.
- v. To long; to yearn.
- v. To curdle, as milk.
WordNet 3.0
- v. acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions
- v. earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages
Etymologies
- Middle English ernen, from Old English earnian.Middle English ernen, variant of yernen; see yearn.
Examples
“After about a half-mile or so, the grade steepens considerably and the meaning of the phrase "earn one's turns" becomes clear.”
“I found out it will take me 803 years to earn what Mark Teixeira will earn in one year (actually playing about 8 of those months) and I am using the term earn loosely (Does any anyone really earn that kind of money for playing a game?)”
“I don't think foxsports should abuse the word "earn" like this.”
“Moreover, their partners generally pay no more than 15 percent in taxes on most of the money they earn from the firm, compared with the top individual rate of 35 percent ....”
More on the Height of Bravery, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“We are going to talk with them and listento them and we are going to walk amongst them and again earn their support this November.”
“It's probably one of the most valuable things an employee can earn from a manager.”
First Rule of Management: First, Do No Harm | Managing Greatness
“Letting those who earn money keep what they earn is NOT redistribution of wealth.”
Tom McIntyre Explains His Picks for our 2009 Hunting and Fishing Heroes and Villians Face-Off
“In my case, incidentally, the choice of writing in English was certainly motivated by wanting to earn from the writing.”
“A few white collar technically trained folks, however, may never again earn the money they made in the mid to late 1990s.”
Free Trade in Tech Labor, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“May we once again earn the trust you gave humanity so long ago.”
Lists
‘earn’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.