Earl
[ɜːl]
Definition
(noun.) a British peer ranking below a marquess and above a viscount.
Inputed by Bess--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A nobleman of England ranking below a marquis, and above a viscount. The rank of an earl corresponds to that of a count (comte) in France, and graf in Germany. Hence the wife of an earl is still called countess. See Count.
(n.) The needlefish.
Checker: Rudolph
Definition
n. an English nobleman ranking between a marquis and a viscount:—fem. Count′ess.—ns. Earl′dom the dominion or dignity of an earl; Earl′-mar′shal an English officer of state president of the Heralds' College—the Scotch form Earl-marischal.
Checker: Lucille
Unserious Contents or Definition
A title of nobility.
Checker: Virgil
Examples
- The Earl had procured a pair of horses somehow, in spite of Mrs. Crawley, and was rolling on the road to Ghent. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Charming man, ma'am, the Earl of Fife! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I have a gentleman for my husband, and an Earl's daughter for my sister, in the very house where I was little better than a servant a few years ago. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The Earl smiled and shook his head. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Was it only ten years since she had wavered in imagination between the English earl and the Italian prince? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- I passed but one day in confinement; in the evening I was liberated, as I was told, by the order of the Earl himself. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- But I can assure you that the Earl of Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The Earl of Bective was also there. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- A charming man, the Earl of Fife! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Here am I playing second fiddle to Miss Eliza Higgins for the amusement of her most charming man, the Earl of Fife! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- A boon', a boon', quoth Earl' Mar-shal', And fell' on his bend'-ded knee', That what'-so-e'er' the queen' shall say', No harm' there-of' may be'. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The Earl was deeply interested, and encouraged the young American to persevere, but for the time Fulton left the steamboat to work out other problems. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- It is to be found in Fairbottom Valley, half way between Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham, and is the property of the trustees of the late Earl of Stamford and Warrington. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl of Maynooth, at that time governor of one of the Australian colonies. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I am as well bred as the Earl's grand-daughter, for all her fine pedigree; and yet every one passes me by here. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- But as to counts, marquises, dukes, earls, and the like, I was not so scrupulous. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
Checked by Archie