eager
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /iɡə/
ipa: /-ɑ/
ipa: /ˈiɡɚ/
ipa: /ˈiːɡə/
ipa: /ˈɪɡɚ/
ipa: /ˈɪɡə/
rhymes: -iːɡə(ɹ)
Forms: form: more eager
form: eagerer
form: most eager
form: eagerest
form: aigre
form: eagre
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English egre, eger, from Old French aigre, egre (modern French aigre), from Latin ācrus, variant of ācer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.
Senses: examples: text: Stacey is very eager to go cycling this weekend.
text: The hounds were eager in the chase.
text: I was eager to show my teacher how much I'd learned over the holidays.
text: You stayed up all night to get to the front of the queue. You must be very eager to get tickets.
text: When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.
ref: 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
text: a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
ref: 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
text: When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him.[…]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
examples: text: an eager algorithm
topics: computing
computing-theory
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
examples: text: gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself
ref: 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
examples: text: like eager droppings into milk
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 9:
qualifier: literal
glosses: Sharp; sour; acid.
examples: text: If so thou thinkest, vex him with eager words.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 157:
text: It is a nipping and an eager air.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 2:
glosses: Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
Synonyms: sense: desirous
word: bursting
word: keen
word: raring
word: alacritous
word: athirst
word: fain
Derived terms: beeregar
eager beaver
eager load
eagerly
eagerness
eagersome
overeager
uneager