Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EARN'EST-NESS, n. [ern'estness.]

1. Ardor or zeal in the pursuit of any thing; eagerness; animated desire; as, to seek or ask with earnestness; to engage in a work with earnestness.
2. Anxious care; solicitude; intenseness of desire. Dryden.
3. Fixed desire or attention; seriousness; as, the charge was maintained with a show of gravity and earnestness.