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  • ers
    ers
    noun
  • ERS
    ERS
    Emergency Radio Service.
  • -ers
    -ers
    a semantically empty suffix that creates informal variations of more neutral nouns and adjectives by processes of truncation identical to those of -er (champers; preggers; starkers ); unlike that suffix, however, -ers is apparently productive, and words formed with it do not appear to belong to a restricted linguistic register, as university slang.

ers

1 American  
[urs, airs] / ɜrs, ɛərs /

noun

  1. ervil.


ERS 2 American  
Or E.R.S.
  1. Emergency Radio Service.


-ers 3 American  
  1. a semantically empty suffix that creates informal variations of more neutral nouns and adjectives by processes of truncation identical to those of -er (champers; preggers; starkers ); unlike that suffix, however, -ers is apparently productive, and words formed with it do not appear to belong to a restricted linguistic register, as university slang.


ERS British  

abbreviation

  1. earnings related supplement

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ers1

Middle French < Old Provençal < Late Latin ervus, variant of Latin ervum. See ervil

Origin of -ers3

Perhaps a conflation of -er 7 with the final element of bonkers and crackers in the sense “wild, crazy” (unless these words themselves contain this suffix); cf. -s 3

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

But we lived in a way unimaginable to 9-5 ers.

From New York Times Dec. 12, 2018

The United States soon got wind of Guevara’s presence and sent CIA agents and military advis ers to assist the regime of René Barrientos.

From The Guardian Oct. 5, 2017

Roosevelt Island is fantastic: right in the middle of the Potomac River and filled with woodpeck- ers, frogs, marshes, trails, and a seventeen-foot statue of Roosevelt himself, in shining bronze and larger than life.

From MSNBC Sep. 9, 2014

The mass of work ers stand in their interminable lines or else buy on the flourishing black market.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mr. Smith- ers avoided the open manhole, averting a nasty fall. bad/badly.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

A prison officer has been suspended and no removals from HMP Chelmsford under the ERS will take place this week.

From BBC Oct. 29, 2025

My experience of this ERS production is unique to the moment of my encounter.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 8, 2025

Jess Blair, director of electoral reform campaigners ERS Cymru, said: "Voters are once again at risk of losing out without the ability to choose who replaces their MS."

From BBC Jan. 23, 2025

Although the ERS data are helping many plan future observations, most cycle 1 data are still locked up and some will remain so until the second half of 2024.

From Science Magazine Nov. 2, 2022

“If ERS is known for anything,” Simpson says, “we’re known for our livestock, wallpaper and violent dance.”

From New York Times Jul. 24, 2022

Paisley had never been a competitive swimmer or a dancer or any of the other -ers that might help someone dance underwater.

From Washington Post Jun. 15, 2018

A -ers gath- -ing moss no roll- stone.

From Little Folks (October 1884) A Magazine for the Young by Various

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