English Dictionary

EARL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does earl mean? 

EARL (noun)
  The noun EARL has 1 sense:

1. a British peer ranking below a marquess and above a viscountplay

  Familiarity information: EARL used as a noun is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


EARL (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A British peer ranking below a marquess and above a viscount

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("earl" is a kind of...):

peer (a nobleman (duke or marquis or earl or viscount or baron) who is a member of the British peerage)

Instance hyponyms:

Earl of Leicester; Montfort; Simon de Montfort (an English nobleman who led the baronial rebellion against Henry III (1208-1265))

Derivation:

earldom (the domain controlled by an earl or count or countess)

earldom (the dignity or rank or position of an earl or countess)


 Context examples 


In my opinion, the younger son of an earl can know very little of either.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“And so say I,” cried the Scottish earl; “for they do not know that there is any enemy within thirty long leagues of them.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And before her stood princes, and dukes, and earls: and the fisherman went up to her and said, Wife, are you emperor?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But as to counts, marquises, dukes, earls, and the like, I was not so scrupulous.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Is this, thought Elizabeth, meant for me? and she coloured at the idea; but, recovering herself, said in a lively tone, And pray, what is the usual price of an earl's younger son?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

At the same instant the Welshmen upon the left, led on by the Scotch earl, had charged out from among the rocks which sheltered them, and by the fury of their outfall had driven the Spaniards in front of them in headlong flight down the hill.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Once upon a time the king held a great feast, and asked thither all her suitors; and they all sat in a row, ranged according to their rank—kings, and princes, and dukes, and earls, and counts, and barons, and knights.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Here you find us; and we cannot wonder that you, who are new to tumbling, should be astounded, since many great barons, earls, marshals and knights, who have wandered as far as the Holy Land, are of one mind in saying that they have never seen a more noble or gracious performance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Long did Alleyne bear the scene in mind—the knot of knights in their dull leaden-hued armor, the ruddy visage of Sir Oliver, the craggy features of the Scottish earl, the shining scalp of Sir Nigel, with the dense ring of hard, bearded faces and the long brown heads of the horses, all topped and circled by the beetling cliffs.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"He who pays the piper calls the tune." (English proverb)

"Who lets the rams graze gets the wool." (Albanian proverb)

"Three feet of ice does not result from one day of freezing weather." (Chinese proverb)

"With friends like these, who needs enemies?" (Croatian proverb)



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