ers

¹

[urs, airs]

noun

1. ervil.

ERS

²

Or E.R.S.

1. Emergency Radio Service.

-ers

³

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

abbreviation

1. earnings related supplement

Word History and Origins

Origin of ers¹

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

Origin of ers²

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); -s ³

Example Sentences

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

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The trend toward extravagance dovetailed nicely with the emergence of baby boomers and older Gen X–ers with more disposable income, the hankering for less-traveled international locales and a generational shift toward more creature comforts.

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No removals from HMP Chelmsford under the ERS will take place this week.

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The patchwork system that supplies blood and blood products to operating rooms, delivery suites, and ERs like mine can be frighteningly brittle.

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All those motherf***ers who are out there arresting U.S. citizens, violating habeas corpus and bending rules to enforce a police state deserve a lot more than a sandwich dumped on them.

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