Hypertext Webster Gateway: "earlier"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.

Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.
--Burke.

The doorsteps and threshold with the early grass
springing up about them. --Hawthorne.

2. Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the
first of successive acts, events, etc.

Seen in life's early morning sky. --Keble.

The forms of its earlier manhood. --Longfellow.

The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth
summer. --J. C.
Shairp.

{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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

earlier
adj 1: occurring earlier in time; "on earlier occasions"
2: (comparative and superlative of `early') more early than;
most early; "a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his
earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher";
"Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera" [syn: {earliest}]
adv 1: earlier in time; previously; "I had known her before"; "as I
said before"; "he called me the day before but your
call had come even earlier"; "her parents had died
four years earlier"; "I mentioned that problem
earlier" [syn: {before}]
2: comparatives of `soon' or `early'; "Come a little sooner, if
you can"; "came earlier than I expected" [syn: {sooner}]
3: before now; "why didn't you tell me in the first place?"
[syn: {in the first place}, {in the beginning}, {to begin
with}, {originally}]


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