EAGER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Eager

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/ˈigər/ Listen

adjective

Eager adj.

1.

Sharp; sour; acid. (Obs.) "Like eager droppings into milk."

2.

Sharp; keen; bitter; severe. (Obs.) "A nipping and an eager air." "Eager words."

3.

Excited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement; as, the hounds were eager in the chase. "And gazed for tidings in my eager eyes." "How eagerly ye follow my disgraces!" "When to her eager lips is brought Her infant's thrilling kiss." "A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys." "Conceit and grief an eager combat fight."

4.

Brittle; inflexible; not ductile. (Obs.) "Gold will be sometimes so eager, as artists call it, that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself."

Synonyms: Earnest; ardent; vehement; hot; impetuous; fervent; intense; impassioned; zealous; forward. See Earnest. Eager, Earnest. Eager marks an excited state of desire or passion; thus, a child is eager for a plaything, a hungry man is eager for food, a covetous man is eager for gain. Eagerness is liable to frequent abuses, and is good or bad, as the case may be. It relates to what is praiseworthy or the contrary. Earnest denotes a permanent state of mind, feeling, or sentiment. It is always taken in a good sense; as, a preacher is earnest in his appeals to the conscience; an agent is earnest in his solicitations.

noun

Eager n. Same as Eagre.

See images of 'Eager'

Etymology of 'Eager'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Eager" Quotes from Famous Books

... lounged and smoked in the studio, looking through his father's latest pictures. They had talked of the family. Jeffers would be down to-morrow night, for the week-end; Tiny on Tuesday with the precious Baby; Jerry, distinctly coming round, and eager to see Roy. Even Aunt Jane sounded a shade keen. And he, undeserving, had scarcely expected them to 'turn a hair.' Then they discussed the Indian situation; and Roy—forgetting to be shy—raged at finding how little those at Home had been allowed ...

— Far to Seek - A Romance of England and India • Maud Diver

... with stalwart tenderness Her swelling bosom firm to his doth press; Springs like a stag that flees the eager hound, And like a whirlwind rustles o'er the ground. Her locks swim in dishevelled wildness o'er His shoulders, streaming to his waist and more; While on and on, strong as a rolling flood, His sweeping footsteps ...

— The Book of American Negro Poetry • Edited by James Weldon Johnson

... advertise! It is, or should be, the Shibboleth of British commerce. That it certainly will be so I, George Robinson, hereby venture to prophesy, feeling that on this subject something but little short of inspiration has touched my eager pen. ...

— The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson - By One of the Firm • Anthony Trollope

... both interesting and suggestive. He has endeavored to present the subject in a way that necessitates the comparison of authors and movements, and leads to stimulating thinking. He has tried to communicate enough of the spirit of our literature to make students eager for a first-hand acquaintance with it, to cause them to investigate for themselves this remarkable American record of spirituality, initiative, and democratic accomplishment. As a guide to such study, there have been placed ...

— History of American Literature • Reuben Post Halleck

... about him with round, astonished eyes, but never said a word in answer to the eager questions of the girls, beyond ...

— Ole Mammy's Torment • Annie Fellows Johnston

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