Forms: 3–7 egre, 4–5 egor, egyr, 4–6 egir, 5 eegre, 5–6 aygre, 6 eigre, eygre, eger, egar, aeygre, 7 ægre, 6– eager. [a. OF. aigre sharp, keen, sour:—L. acre-m acc. of acer sharp, pungent, swift, strenuous.
(Senses 1, 2, 4, 5 are taken from Fr.; 6 seems a specially Eng. development.)]
I. Of material things or physical conditions.
† 1. Pungent, acrid, keen to the taste or other senses. Of medicines: Sharp or violent in operation. Of diseases: Acute, severe. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth. (1868), I. v. 25. A more myȝty and more egre medicine.
1544. Phaër, Regim. Lyfe (1546), I j. Those diseases are excedynge egre, sharp and almost importable of peyne.
1574. Newton, Health Mag., 14. To mingle … sweete and toothsome with sower and eigre.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxviii. To make our appetites more keene With eager compounds we our pallat vrge.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XIX. v. 18. Of all this bulbous kind, the Sea-onyon Squilla is reputed chiefe…, so there is not any more ægre and biting than it.
b. Said of cold (after quot. 1602).
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. iv. 2. It is a nipping and an eager ayre.
1854. J. Kennedy, Swallow B. (1860), 100. Imparted an eager chilliness to the atmosphere.
1884. Stevenson, New Arab. Nts., 180. The eager air of the seaside.
† c. fig. Of words: Biting, keen. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Melibeus, ¶ 212. Thou shalt rather … flee fro the sweete wordes of flaterynge preiseres than fro the egre wordes of thy freend.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. vi. 68. Vex him with eager Words. Ibid., Rich. II., I. i. 49. The bitter clamour of two eager tongues.
† 2. spec. Sour, acid, tart. Obs. [So Fr. aigre.]
c. 1350. Med. MS., in Archæol., XXX. 352. Eysyl or egyr wyn.
[1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, 4. Corrupt wiyn, þat is, rotyn, but not egre.
1575. Art of Planting, 39. The wylde and eager Cherry tree.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. v. 69. It doth posset And curd like Aygre droppings into Milke.
a. 1718. Parnell, Hermit, 39. Bread of the coursest sort, with eager wine.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., I. s.v. Brewing, It was hard to brew Drink which would be fine before it was eager.
3. † a. Of a cutting instrument: Sharp (obs. rare.) b. techn. Of certain tools: ‘Biting’ keenly.
1611. Chapman, Iliad, X. 150/134. Now on the eager razors edge, for life or death we stand.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metals, II. 139. [The tool represented in the figure] is what the artisan calls an eager tool, and is used for roughing the work; it has a … semicircular edge, so formed as to bite keenly.
† 4. Of metals: Imperfectly tempered, brittle. Obs. [So Fr. aigre, opposed to doux.]
1579. North, Plutarch, 490. It [the iron coyne of Sparta] was so eager and brittle by meanes of this temper, that [etc.].
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. vi. § 34. 222. Gold it self will be sometimes so eager, (as Artists call it,) that it will as little endure the Hammer, as Glass it self.
1763–6. W. Lewis, in Phil. Trans., XCIII. 78, note. Iron or steel … render gold hard and eager.
II. Of living beings or their attributes.
† 5. Strenuous, ardent, impetuous; fierce, angry. Said of persons, their actions and attributes. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc., 80. Þis Britones were so egre … þat þo Romaynes and here kyng gonne fle atte laste.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 144. Roland answerede wyþ egre mod.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5445. Ymasus, yrfull, egor of wille.
1475. Bk. Noblesse. Cruell and egre werre.
1485. Malory, Arthur, I. xiv. (1817). With an egyr countenaunce.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. xi. 28. Egyr of thar wyllis.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, Pref. A. viii. Echone … contendeth with eigre mode and bitter dispute.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., II. 137. His most ægre enemy.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, ix. § 1. 246. Glut the eagerest malice.
1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, II. viii. § 7 (1734), 201. When the Conflict itself is very hot, brisk, and eager, we all agree to call it a Fever.
† b. Of beasts and birds of prey: Fierce, savage. Also transf. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerkes T., 1143. Egre as is a Tygre.
1530. Palsgr., 311/1. Egar, fierce … as a wyld beest is.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 21. The southwynd merciles eager.
6. Of persons: Full of keen desire or appetite; impatiently longing to do or obtain something. Const. inf.; after, for, † of (the thing desired); about, in, † upon (a task, matter or concern). Also of desires or appetites: Intense, impatient.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3753. Menelay the mighty was … Auntrus in armys, eger of wer.
1561. Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc (1565), C vj. 1008. After blode, so eigre were thy thirst.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 6. Eger greedinesse.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb. (1702), I. I. 40. He found … others to be less eager in the pursuit of his Friendship.
1683. Smallwood, trans. Romulus, in Plutarch, I. 99. Curtius, a gallant Man, eager of Honour, and of aspiring thoughts.
1695. Blackmore, Pr. Arth., IX. 432/258.
| Eager of Fame, and of the promis’d Prize, | |
| The Riders seize the Mark with greedy Eyes. |
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), I. 316. The Captain was so eager … that he could hardly have Patience to let him come so near as to be sure of him.
1729. Law, Serious C., xii. 189. He is eager upon it.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 153, ¶ 5. Eager of any intelligence that might increase it.
1759. Robertson, Hist. Scot., I. II. 133. She had become acquainted with the eager and impatient temper of the nation. Ibid. (1769), Chas. V., III. VII. 2. He was eager for war.
1793. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 177. I am not now so eager about your coming to town as I was.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 291. The enemy … being eager in plundering the baggage of the dead.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, III. xix. 106. They are … eager for foreign expeditions.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, v. § 10. 146. How much of imperfection and variety in things professing to be symmetrical the eyes of those eager builders could endure.
1883. Manch. Exam., 26 Nov., 4/2. Makers are not eager to book fresh orders.
b. Of actions, gestures, looks, etc.: Characterized by or manifesting alacrity or impatient desire.
Phrases like eager conflict, pursuit, originally belonged rather to 5, but modern feeling connects them with this sense.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 645/90. Early Visitants. With eager Eyes devouring, as they pass, The breathing Figures of Corinthian Brass.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., ii. § 16, Wks. 1871, II. 84. Those gentlemen who are called men of pleasure, from their eager pursuit of it.
1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xi. (1876), 131. An epistle abounding with the most earnest and eager controversy.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xiii. (1878), 253. The unconsciously eager way in which he looked at the eatables.
1873. Buckle, Civiliz., viii. 457. Eager in upholding rights of kings.
† 7. spec. Hungry (? orig. techn. in Falconry). Of the eyes: Hungry-looking. Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C vj. The hawke will be very eegre and gleetous of the seekeness.
1575. Turberv., Bk. Falconrie, 160. When your falcons be skoured and cleane so as beyng sharp set they may be called hungrie hawkes, or as faulconers tearme them eagre hawkes.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 516/2. Eager, or sharp set, i. e. hungry.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 266, ¶ 2. Her eyes were wan and eager.
1766. C. Anstey, New Bath Guide, v. 38.
| Your Frenchman so eager, | |
| With all his Soup Meagre. |
III. Comb., as eager-eyed, -hearted, -looking adjs.; also † eager-dulce, -sweet a., acid and sweet. [Cf. AIGRE-DOUX, AGRODOLCE.]
1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, iv. The carved angels, ever eager-eyed.
1805. Wordsw., Incid. Favourite Dog, 11. Every dog is eager-hearted.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II. 77. His eager-looking red eyes.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke, 3 a. The eagredulce sauce of the paraphrase. Ibid., Pref. 5 b. If with vinegre it be made eagredulce. Ibid., 3. Eagredulce.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countrey Farme, 416. As concerning Ciders … the eager sweet are much better and more wholsome than the harsh sweet.
