Emily Dickinson Lexicon

earn (-s, -ed, -ing), v. [OE.] (webplay: any, before, day, dollar, earnest, gain, honor, less, Men, merit, never, short-sighted, strive).

To merit, deserve, or gain through one's actions, performance, or labor, whether or not the reward is received.

earnest, adj. [OE.] (webplay: jest, life).

Serious; weighty; grave; solemn; tragic.

earring (-s, Ear Rings), n. [see ear, n. and ring, n.]

1. Ear adornment; jewelry of metal with gems for decorating the ears; [fig.] poem; verse; song; lyric.
2. Gold loops; [fig.] riches; lucre; treasure.

ear ring (-s), n. [see earring, n.]

earth (-s, -'s), n. [OE < IE 'ground'.] (webplay: above, act, air, all, ancient, break, called, circumference, country, days, distinct, divine, existence, fall, fine, generally, ground, heavenly, hide, hours, inodorous, land, lately, lifted, little, Mars, month, one prove, round, same scenes, sea, signifies, soil, spade, substance, sun, supposed, things, throw, turning, up, water, world, worm, years).

1. Terrestrial globe; home planet for humans, animals, plants, and other entities; [metonymy] Creation; [personification] Mother Nature.
2. Third major rotating satellite from the sun; heavenly body that spins as it orbits around the center star of the solar system.
3. World; biosphere; ecosystem; domain of living beings and material things.
4. Land; countryside; terra firma; inhabitable sphere below the atmosphere.
5. Mortality; mortal life; the present dimension; the known world; the current state of existence.
6. Cosmos; orb; universe; new frontier.
7. Planet; geographic sphere that has reversible electromagnetic fields.
8. Ground; land; humus; organic matter; [fig.] graveyard; place of burial; [fig.] cycle of life and death.
9. Dirt; loam; soil suited for cultivation.
10. Treasures of this world; [fig.] temporal happiness, success, or knowledge.
11. The terrestrial kingdom; the lower realm of being.
12. Surface; horizon; dry land; crust of the planet.
13. Mankind; humankind; the human family; the people who inhabit the planet; all the generations who have inhabited this world.
14. Active, dynamic, resonating blue-water global entity.
15. Living creatures; inhabitants of the world.
16. Globe with north-south and east-west orientations.
17. This tiny world; this limited sphere of existence; mortality as opposed to other states.
18. Glorious globe; beauty of the planet.
19. Paradise; primordial state; pre-mortal life; garden of Eden; Eden-like place.

earthen, adj. [see earth, n.]

Phrase. “Earthen Door”: edge of the planet; [kenning] horizon; skyline; [fig.] bounds of mortal existence.

earthly, adj. [see earth, n.] (webplay: heavenly, life, things).

1. Real; tangible; existing; concrete; physical; perceptible; palpable; [fig.] certain; true; knowable.
2. Base; lower; terrestrial; less divine; not heavenly or spiritual.
3. Human; pertaining to human nature.
4. Material; mortal; temporal; worldly; transitory; ephemeral.

earthquake, adj. [see earth, n. and quake, v.]

Rumbling; shaking; trembling; tremulous; [fig.] uneasy; volatile; unsteady; destructive; disruptive; convulsive; nerve-racking; not stable.

earthquake, n. [see earth, n. and quake, v.] (webplay: air).

Seism; temblor; shaking of the ground; tremor of the earth's crust; heaving of the earth's surface due to seismic activity; geological movement of the earth's underlying tectonic plates.

ease, n. [OFr < L. *asia, elbow-room.] (webplay: great, forced, man, One, pain, soul).

1. Facility; without difficulty.
2. Rest.
3. Phrase. “Heart's Ease”: pansy; viola; johnny-jump-up; [fig.] happiness; cheer.