eager

See also: Eager and eagre

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “eager”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiɡɚ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈiːɡə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɡə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English egre, eger, from Old French egre (French aigre), from Latin acer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.

Alternative forms

• aigre (obsolete)
• eagre (obsolete)

Adjective

eager (comparative eagerer, superlative eagerest)

1. (obsolete) Sharp; sour; acid.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 5, line 69:

     like eager droppings into milk

2. (obsolete) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, act 2, scene 6, line 71 (1321):

     If so thou thinkest, vex him with eager words.

   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 4, line 2:

     It is a nipping and an eager air.

3. Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
   • (Can we date this quote by Keble and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.

   • (Can we date this quote by Hawthorne and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.

   The hounds were eager in the chase.

   I was eager to show my teacher how much I'd learned over the holidays.

   You stayed up all night to get to the front of the queue. You must be very eager to get tickets.

4. Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Gold will be sometimes so eager, as artists call it, that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself.

5. (computing theory) Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.

   an eager algorithm

Synonyms

• raring

Derived terms

• eager beaver
• eagerly
• eagerness

Translations

excited by desire in the pursuit of any object

• Arabic: مُشْتَاق (muštāq)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: нецярплі́вы (njecjarplívy)
• Bulgarian: нетърпели́в (bg) (netǎrpelív), си́лно жела́ещ (sílno želáešt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 急於／急于 (zh) (jíyú), 急于 (zh) (jíyú)

• Czech: dychtivý
• Dutch: begerig (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: hanakka (fi), innokas (fi), kärkäs (fi), halukas (fi)
• French: désireux (fr), enthousiaste (fr), impatient (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: begierig (de), gierig (de), eifrig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: πρόθυμος (próthumos)

• Hungarian: buzgó (hu)
• Irish: cíocrach (for food, etc.)
• Italian: avido (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: សម្រើបខ្លួន (sɑmraǝp kluən), ឆួល (km) (cʰuəl), កន្ត្រោង (km) (kɑntraoŋ)
• Latin: avidus (la), cupiens, studiōsus (la)
• Maori: tūkawikawi
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: ivrig
• Polish: gorliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: ávido (pt) m
• Romanian: doritor (ro), amator (ro), avid (ro), dornic (ro), nerăbdător (ro)
• Russian: жа́ждущий (ru) (žážduščij), стра́стно/си́льно жела́ющий (strástno/sílʹno želájuščij), рву́щийся (ru) (rvúščijsja), нетерпели́вый (ru) (neterpelívyj) (impatient)
• Scots: aiger
• Scottish Gaelic: dealasach, dian
• Spanish: impaciente (es), ilusionado (es), entusiasmado (es), ávido (es), anhelante (es)
• Swedish: ivrig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: нетерпля́чий (neterpljáčyj), нетерпели́вий (neterpelývyj)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: ledesirik (vo)
• Westrobothnian:

Etymology 2

See eagre.

Noun

eager (plural eagers)

1. Alternative form of eagre (tidal bore).

Further reading

• “eager”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “eager”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “eager”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• aeger, agree, eagre, geare, æger