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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

earlier \earlier\ adj.
occurring at a prior time; as, on earlier occasions.
[WordNet 1.5]


Early \Ear"ly\, a. [Compar. {Earlier} ([~e]r"l[i^]*[~e]r);
superl. {Earliest}.] [OE. earlich. [root]204. See {Early},
adv.]
1. In advance of the usual or appointed time; in good season;
prior in time; among or near the first; -- opposed to
{late}; as, the early bird; an early spring; early fruit.
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Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.
--Burke.
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The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass
springing up about them. --Hawthorne.
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2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the
first of successive acts, events, etc.
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Seen in life's early morning sky. --Keble.
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The forms of its earlier manhood. --Longfellow.
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The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth
summer. --J. C.
Shairp.
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{Early English} (Philol.) See the Note under {English}.

{Early English architecture}, the first of the pointed or
Gothic styles used in England, succeeding the Norman style
in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Syn: Forward; timely; not late; seasonable.
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