earring

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An ornament worn on or pendent from the ear, especially the earlobe. Also called regionally earbob.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A ring or other ornament, usually of gold or silver, and with or without precious stones, worn at the ear, the usual means of attachment being the ring itself, or a hook or projection which forms a part of it, passing through the lobe. Among Orientals ear-rings have been used by both sexes from the earliest times. In England they were worn by the Romanized Britons and by Anglo-Saxons. After the tenth century the fashion seems to have declined throughout Europe, and ear-rings are neither found in graves nor seen in paintings or sculptures. The wearing of ear-rings was reintroduced into England in the sixteenth century, and Stubbs, writing in the time of Queen Elizabeth, says, “The women are not ashamed to make holes in their ears whereat they hang rings and other jewels of gold and precious stones.” The use of ear-rings by women has continued to the present time. In the seventeenth century they were worn by men; and seafaring men, especially of the southern nations of Europe, have retained the use of them, commonly in the form of gold hoops, down to our own times. Among women the shape of ear-rings changes completely with the fashions, long, heavy pendants being succeeded by smaller ones, and these by single stones in almost invisible chatons, set close to the lobe of the ear.

Wiktionary

1. n. A piece of jewelry worn on the ear.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An ornament consisting of a ring passed through the lobe of the ear, with or without a pendant.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. jewelry to ornament the ear; usually clipped to the earlobe or fastened through a hole in the lobe