eager1
[ee-ger]
- keen or ardent in desire or feeling; impatiently longing: I am eager for news about them. He is eager to sing.
- characterized by or revealing great earnestness: an eager look.
- Obsolete. keen; sharp; biting.
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Origin of eager1
1250–1300; Middle English egre < Anglo-French, Old French egre, aigre < Vulgar Latin *ācrus for Latin ācer sharp
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
eager2
[ee-ger, ey-ger]
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eagre
or ea·ger
[ee-ger, ey-ger]
- a tidal bore or flood.
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Origin of eagre
1640–50; apparently representing earlier agar, ager, obscurely akin to hyger, higre; (compare Anglo-Latin (12th century) higra the tidal bore of the Severn); compared with Old English ēgor, eogor flood, high tide, though preservation of g in modern forms is problematic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
restlessthirstyhungrygreedyimpatientkeenambitiouslonginghankeringyearningearnestintentwildcravingpiningacquisitiveagogantsyardentathirstExamples from the Web for eager
Contemporary Examples
This is the Mexico that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and most major U.S. corporations, are eager to call amigo.
In August 1984, I arrived at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, eager to jump into college life.
In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, most of us are eager to return home for the holiday.
Many were just eager to forget, absolve, or overlook serious accusations, simply because doing so would be hugely convenient.
So why, you might ask, are many of our leaders so eager to build it?
Historical Examples
He was eager now to be off, and the time would hang heavily.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
The unfermented wine of another spring day came to his eager nostrils.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
There are twenty men who will be eager to comply with the wishes of their minister.
How pale and eager their faces looked as they bent above him!
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
Miss Wilder listened attentively to Grace's eager outpouring.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton CampusJessie Graham Flower
eager1
- (postpositive; often foll by to or for) impatiently desirous (of); anxious or avid (for)he was eager to see her departure
- characterized by or feeling expectancy or great desirean eager look
- archaic tart or biting; sharp
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French egre, from Latin acer sharp, keen
eager2
- a variant spelling of eagre
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eagre
eager
- a tidal bore, esp of the Humber or Severn estuary
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Word Origin
C17: perhaps from Old English ēagor flood; compare Old English ēa river, water
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for eager
adj.
late 13c., "strenuous, ardent, fierce, angry," from Old French aigre "sour, acid; harsh, bitter, rough; eager greedy; lively, active, forceful," from Latin acrem (nominative acer) "keen, sharp, pointed, piercing; acute, ardent, zealous" (see acrid).
Meaning "full of keen desire" (early 14c.) seems to be peculiar to English. The English word kept an alternative meaning of "pungent, sharp-edged" till 19c. (e.g. Shakespeare's "The bitter clamour of two eager tongues," in "Richard II"). Related: Eagerly; eagerness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper