ER, the termination of many English words, is the Teutonic form of the Latin or; the one contracted from wer, the other from vir, a man. It denotes an agent, originally of the masculine gender, but now applied to men or things indifferently; as in farmer, heater, grater. At the end names of places, er signifies a man of the place; Londoner is the same as London-man.
There is a passage in Herodotus, Melpomene, 110, in which the word wer, vir, a man, is mentioned as used by the Scythians; a fact proving the affinity of the Scythian and the Teutonic nations.
'The Scythians call the Amazons Oiorpata, a word which may be rendered, in Greek, menkillers; for oior is the name they give to man, pata signifies to kill.' Pata, in the Burman language, signifies to kill; but it is probable that this is really the English beat.
E'RA, noun [Latin oera. The origin of the term is not obvious.]
1. In chronology, a fixed point of time, from which any number of years is begun to be counted; as the Christian era It differs from epoch in this; era is a point of time fixed by some nation or denomination of men; epoch is a point fixed by historians and chronologists. The christian era began at the epoch of the birth of Christ.
2. A succession of years proceeding from a fixed point, or comprehended between two fixed points. The era of the Seleucides ended with the reign of Antiochus.
ERA'DIATE, verb intransitive [Latin e and radio, to beam.]
To shoot as rays of light; to beam.
ERADIA'TION, noun Emission of rays or beams of light; emission of light or splendor.
ERAD'ICATE, verb transitive [Latin eradico, from radix, root.]
1. To pull up the roots, or by the roots. Hence, to destroy anything that grows; to extirpate; to destroy the roots, so that the plant will not be reproduced; as, to eradicate weeds.
2. To destroy thoroughly; to extirpate; as, to eradicate errors, or false principles, or vice or disease.
ERAD'ICATED, participle passive Plucked up by the roots; extirpated; destroyed.
ERAD'ICATING, participle present tense Pulling up the roots of any thing; extirpating.
ERADICA'TION, noun The act of plucking up by the roots; extirpation; excision; total destruction.
1. The state of being plucked up by the roots.
ERAD'ICATIVE, adjective That extirpates; that cures or destroys thoroughly.
ERAD'ICATIVE, noun A medicine that effects a radical cure.
ERA'SABLE, adjective That may or can be erased.
ERA'SE, verb transitive [Latin erado, erasi; e and rado, to scrape; Heb. a graving tool.]
1. To rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved or painted; to efface; as, to erase a word or a name.
2. To obliterate; to expunge; to blot out; as with pen and ink.
3. To efface; to destroy; as ideas in the mind or memory.
4. To destroy to the foundation. [See Raze.]
ERA'SED, participle passive Rubbed or scratched out; obliterated; effaced.
ERA'SEMENT, noun The act of erasing; a rubbing out; expunction; obliteration; destruction.
ERA'SING, participle present tense Rubbing or scraping out; obliterating; destroying.
ERA'SION, noun s as z. The act of erasing; a rubbing out; obliteration.
ERAS'TIAN, noun A follower of one Erastus, the leader of a religious sect, who denied the power of the church to discipline its members.
ERAS'TIANISM, noun The principles of the Erastians.
ERA'SURE, noun era'zhur. The act of erasing; a scratching out; obliteration.
1. The place where a word or letter has been erased or obliterated.
ERE, adverb Before; sooner than.
ERE sails were spread new oceans to explore.
The nobleman saith to him, Sir, come down ere my child die. John 4:49.
In these passages, ere is really a preposition, followed by a sentence, instead of a single word, as below.
ERE, preposition Before.
Our fruitful Nile
Flow'd ere the wonted season.
ER'EBUS, noun [Latin erebus ] In mythology, darkness; hence, the region of the dead; a deep and gloomy place; hell.
ERECT', adjective [Latin erectus, from erigo, to set upright; e and rego, to stretch or make straight, right, rectus. See Right.]
1. Upright, or in a perpendicular posture; as, he stood erect
2. Directed upward.
And suppliant hands, to heaven erect
3. Upright and firm; bold; unshaken.
Let no vain fear thy generous ardor tame;
But stand erect
4. Raised; stretched; intent; vigorous; as a vigilant and erect attention of mind in prayer.
5. Stretched; extended.
6. In botany, an erect stem is one which is without support from twining, or nearly perpendicular; an erect leaf is one which grows close to the stem; an erect flower has its aperture directed upwards.
ERECT', verb transitive To raise and set in an upright or perpendicular direction, or nearly such; as, to erect a pole or flag-staff.
To erect a perpendicular, is to set or form one line on another at right angles.
1. To raise, as a building; to set up; to build; as, to erect a house or temple; to erect a fort.
2. To set up or establish anew; to found; to form; as, to erect a kingdom or commonwealth; to erect a new system or theory.
3. To elevate; to exalt.
I am far from pretending to infallibility; that would be to erect myself into an apostle.
4. To raise; to excite; to animate; to encourage.
Why should not hope
As much erect our thoughts, as fear deject them?
5. To raise a consequence from premises. [Little used.]
Malebranche erects this proposition.
6. To extend; to distend.
ERECT', verb intransitive To rise upright.
ERECT'ABLE, adjective That can be erected; as an erectable feather.
ERECT'ED, participle passive Set in a straight and perpendicular direction; set upright; raised; built; established; elevated; animated; extended and distended.
ERECT'ER, noun One that erects; one that raises or builds.
ERECT'ING, participle present tense Raising and setting upright; building; founding; establishing; elevating; inciting; extending and distending.
EREC'TION, noun The act of raising and setting perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; a setting upright.
1. The act of raising or building, as an edifice or fortification; as the erection of a wall, or of a house.
2. The state of being raised, built or elevated.
3. Establishment; settlement; formation; as the erection of a commonwealth, or of a new system; the erection of a bishop-rick or an earldom.
4. Elevation; exaltation of sentiments.
Her peerless height my mind to high erection draws up.
5. Act of rousing; excitement; as the erection of the spirits.
6. Any thing erected; a building of any kind.
7. Distension and extension.
ERECT'IVE, adjective Setting upright; raising.
ERECT'LY, adverb In an erect posture.
ERECT'NESS, noun Uprightness of posture or form.
ERECT'OR, noun A muscle that erects; one that raises.
E'RELONG, adverb [ere and long.] Before a long time had elapsed.
He mounted the horse, and following the stag, erelong slew him.
1. Before a long time shall elapse; before long. erelong you will repent of your folly.
The world erelong a world of tears must weep.
ER'EMITAGE, noun [See Hermitage.]
ER'EMITE, noun [Latin eremita; Gr.a desert.] One who lives in a wilderness, or in retirement, secluded from an intercourse with men. It is generally written hermit, which see.
EREMIT'ICAL, adjective Living in solitude, or in seclusion from the world.
E'RENOW, adverb [ere and now.] Before this time.
EREP'TION, noun [Latin ereptio.] A taking or snatching away by force.
E'REWHILE
E'REWHILES, adverb [ere and while. Some time ago; before a little while.
I am as fair now as I was erewhile
E'REWHILES, adv. [ere and while. Some time ago; before a little while.
I am as fair now as I was erewhile.ER'GAT, verb intransitive [Latin ergo.] To infer; to draw conclusions. [Not used.]
ER'GO, adverb [Latin] Therefore.
ERGOT, noun In farriery, a stub, like a piece of soft horn, about the bigness of a chestnut, situated behind and below the pastern joint, and commonly hid under the tuft of the fetloc.
1. A morbid excrescence in grain; a dark colored shoot, often an inch long, from the ears of grain, particularly of rye.
ER'GOTISM, noun [Latin ergo.] A logical inference; a conclusion.
ER'IACH, noun A pecuniary fine.
ER'IGIBLE, adjective That may be erected. [Ill formed and not used.]
ERINGO. [See Eryngo.]
ERIST'IC
ERIST'ICAL, adjective [Gr. contention; contentious.] Pertaining to disputes; controversial. [Not in use.]
ERIST'ICAL, a. [Gr. contention; contentious.] Pertaining to disputes; controversial. [Not in use.]
ERKE, noun Idle; slothful. [Not in use.]
ERMELIN. [See Ermin.]
ER'MIN
ER'MINE, noun
1. An animal of the genus Mustela, an inhabitant of northern climates, in Europe and America. It nearly resembles the martin in shape, but the weasel, in food and manners. In winter, the fur is entirely white; in summer, the upper part of the body is of a pale tawny brown color, but the tail is tipped with black. The fur is much valued.
2. The fur of the ermin
ER'MINE, n.
1. An animal of the genus Mustela, an inhabitant of northern climates, in Europe and America. It nearly resembles the martin in shape, but the weasel, in food and manners. In winter, the fur is entirely white; in summer, the upper part of the body is of a pale tawny brown color, but the tail is tipped with black. The fur is much valued.2. The fur of the ermin.ER'MINED, adjective Clothed with ermin; adorned with the fur of the ermin; as ermined pride; ermined pomp.
ERNE, or AERNE, a Saxon word, signifying a place or receptacle, forms the termination of some English words, as well as Latin; as in barn, lantern, tavern, taberna.
ERO'DE, verb transitive [Latin erodo; e and rodo, to gnaw.] To eat in or away; to corrode; as, canker erodes the flesh.
The blood, being too sharp or thin, erodes the vessels.
ERO'DED, participle passive Eaten; gnawed; corroded.
ERO'DING, participle present tense Eating into; eating away; corroding.
ER'OGATE, verb transitive [Latin erogo.] To lay out; to give; to bestow upon. [Not used.]
EROGA'TION, noun The act of conferring. [Not used.]
ERO'SE, adjective [Latin erosus.] In botany, an erose leaf has small sinuses in the margin, as if gnawed.
ERO'SION, noun s as z. [Latin erosio.] The act or operation of eating away.
1. The state of being eaten away; corrosion; canker.
EROT'IC
EROT'ICAL, adjective [Gr. love.] Pertaining to love; treating of love.
EROT'IC, noun An amorous composition or poem.
ERPETOL'OGIST, noun [Gr. reptile, discourse.] One who writes on the subject of reptiles, or is versed in the natural history of reptiles.
ERPETOL'OGY, noun [supra.] That part of natural history which treats of reptiles.
ERR, verb intransitive [Latin erro.]
1. To wander from the right way; to deviate from the true course or purpose.
But errs not nature from this gracious end,
From burning suns when livid deaths descend?
2. To miss the right way, in morals or religion; to deviate from the path or line of duty; to stray by design or mistake.
We have erred and strayed like lost sheep.
3. To mistake; to commit error; to do wrong from ignorance or inattention. Men err in judgment from ignorance, from want of attention to facts, or from previous bias of mind.
4. To wander; to ramble.
A storm of strokes, well meant, with fury flies,
And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes.
ER'RABLE, adjective Liable to mistake; fallible. [Little used.]
ER'RABLENESS, noun Liableness to mistake or error.
We may infer from the errableness of our nature, the reasonableness of compassion to the seduced.
ER'RAND, noun
1. A verbal message; a mandate or order; something to be told or done; a communication to be made to some person at a distance. The servant was sent on an errand; he told his errand; he has done the errand These are the most common modes of using this word.
I have a secret errand to thee, O King. Judges 3:19.
2. Any special business to be transacted by a messenger.
ER'RANT, adjective [Latin errans, from erro, to err.]
1. Wandering; roving; rambling; applied particularly to knights, who, in the middle ages, wandered about to seek adventures and display their heroism and generosity, called knights errant
2. Deviating from a certain course.
3. Itinerant.
Errant, for arrant, a false orthography. [See Arrant.]
ER'RANTRY, noun A wandering; a roving or rambling about.
1. The employment of a knight errant.
ERRAT'IC, adjective [Latin erraticus, from erro, to wander.] Wandering; having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination.
1. Moving; not fixed or stationary; applied to the planets, as distinguished from the fixed stars.
2. Irregular; mutable.
ERRAT'ICALLY, adverb Without rule, order or established method; irregularly.
ERRA'TION, noun A wandering. [Not used.]
ERRA'TUM, noun plural errata. [See Err.] An error or mistake in writing or printing. A list of the errata of a book is usually printed at the beginning or end, with references to the pages and lines in which they occur.
ER'RHINE, adjective er'rine. [Gr. the nose.] Affecting the nose, or to be snuffed into the nose; occasioning discharges from the nose.
ER'RHINE, noun er'rine. A medicine to be snuffed up the nose, to promote discharges of mucus.
ER'RING, participle present tense Wandering from the truth or the right way; mistaking; irregular.
ERRO'NEOUS, adjective [Latin erroneus, from erro, to err.]
1. Wandering; roving; unsettled.
They roam
Erroneous and disconsolate.
2. Deviating; devious; irregular; wandering from the right course.
Erroneous circulation of blood.
[The foregoing applications of the word are less common.]
3. Mistaking; misled; deviating, by mistake, from the truth. Destroy not the erroneous with the malicious.
4. Wrong; false; mistaken; not conformable to truth; erring from truth or justice; as an erroneous opinion or judgment.
ERRO'NEOUSLY, adverb By mistake; not rightly; falsely.
ERRO'NEOUSNESS, noun The state of being erroneous, wrong or false; deviation from right; inconformity to truth; as the erroneousness of a judgement or proposition.
ER'ROR, noun [Latin error from erro, to wander.] A wandering or deviation from the truth; a mistake in judgment, by which men assent to or believe what is not true. error may be voluntary, or involuntary. Voluntary, when men neglect or pervert the proper means to inform the mind; involuntary, when the means of judging correctly are not in their power. An error committed through carelessness or haste is a blunder.
Charge home upon error its most tremendous consequences.
1. A mistake made in writing or other performance. It is no easy task to correct the errors of the press. Authors sometimes charge their own errors to the printer.
2. A wandering; excursion; irregular course.
Driv'n by the winds and errors of the sea.
[This sense is unusual and hardly legitimate.]
3. Deviation from law, justice or right; oversight; mistake in conduct.
Say not, it was an error Ecclesiastes 5:6.
4. In scripture and theology, sin; iniquity; transgression.
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psalms 19:12.
5. In law, a mistake in pleading or in judgment. A writ of error is a writ founded on an alleged error in judgment, which carries the suit to another tribunal for redress. Hence the following verb,
ER'ROR, verb transitive To determine a judgment of court to be erroneous.
[The use of this verb is not well authorized.]
ERSE, noun The language of the descendants of the Gaels or Celts, in the highlands of Scotland.
ERST, adverb [See Ere.]
1. First; at first; at the beginning.
2. Once; formerly; long ago.
3. Before; till then or now; hitherto.
[This word is obsolete, except in poetry.]
ERSTWHILE, adverb Till then or now; formerly.
ERUBES'CENCE, noun [Latin erubescens, erubesco, from rubeo, to be red.]
A becoming red; redness of the skin or surface of any thing; a blushing.
ERUBES'CENT, adjective Red, or reddish; blushing.
ERUCT'
ERUCT'ATE, verb transitive [Latin eructo, ructor, coinciding in elements with Heb. to spit.]
To belch; to eject from the stomach, as wind. [Little used.]
ERUCT'ATE, v.t. [L. eructo, ructor, coinciding in elements with Heb. to spit.]
To belch; to eject from the stomach, as wind. [Little used.]
ERUCTA'TION, noun [Latin eructatio.] The act of belching wind from the stomach; a belch.
1. A violent bursting forth or ejection of wind or other matter from the earth.
ER'UDITE, adjective [Latin eruditus, from erudio, to instruct.
Instructed; taught; learned.
ERUDI'TION, noun Learning; knowledge gained by study, or from books and instruction; particularly, learning in literature, as distinct from the sciences, as in history, antiquity and languages. The Scaligers were men of deep erudition
The most useful erudition for republicans is that which exposes the causes of discords.
ERU'GINOUS, adjective [Latin aeruginosus, from aerugo, rust.]
Partaking of the substance or nature of copper or the rust of copper; resembling rust.
ERUPT', verb intransitive To burst forth. [Not used.]
ERUP'TION, noun [Latin eruptio, from erumpo, erupi; e and rumpo, for rupo.
1. The act of breaking or bursting forth from inclosure or confinement; a violent emission of any thing, particularly of flames and lava from a volcano. The eruptions of Hecla in 1783, were extraordinary for the quantity of lava discharged.
2. A sudden or violent rushing forth of men or troops for invasion; sudden excursion.
Incensed at such eruption bold.
3. A burst of voice; violent exclamation. [Little [used.]
4. In medical science, a breaking out of humors; a copious excretion of humors on the skin, in pustules; also, an efflorescence or redness on the skin, as in scarlatina; exanthemata; petechiae; vibices; as in small pox, measles and fevers.
ERUP'TIVE, adjective Bursting forth.
The sudden glance
Appears far south eruptive through the cloud.
1. Attended with eruptions or efflorescence, or producing it; as an eruptive fever.
ERYN'GO, noun [Gr.] The sea-holly, Eryngium, a genus of plants of several species. The flowers are collected in a round head; the receptacle is paleaceous or chaffy. The young shoots are esculent.
ERYSIP'ELAS, noun [Gr.] A disease called St.Anthony's fire; a diffused inflammation with fever of two or three days, generally with coma or delirium; an eruption of a fiery acrid humor, on some part of the body, but chiefly on the face. One species of erysipelas is called shingles, or eruption with small vesicles.
ERYSIPEL'ATOUS, adjective Eruptive; resembling erysipelas, or partaking of its nature.