Obs. exc. arch. Forms: 1 eriȝan, 1–2 erien, (3 ærien), 3–5 ere(n, (eer), 6–8 eare, 7– ear. (3–5 here, 5 eryyn, eiere, 6 eire, eyr, 6–8 Sc. dial. are, 7 ayre.) [Common Teut.: OE. ęrian = OFris. era, ODu. erien, OHG. erran, erren (MHG. eren, ern, early mod.G. aren), ON. erja, Goth. arjan:—OTeut. *arjan, f. WAryan root *ar to plow, whence Gr. ἀρό-ειν, L. ar-āre, Ir. airim.]
1. trans. To plow, till (the ground); also, to turn up (the ground), to throw up (an object) with a plow.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xiv. 4 (Gr.). Þeah him mon eriʓan scyle æcera þusend.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxiv. 135. Hæfst ðu æceras to eriʓenne.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 201. For ye non erþe ne eren.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 141. Eryyn londe, aro.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 184. To tille a felde man must … eree it uppe bydene.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. ix. 140. And wyth ane hundreth plewis the land he aryt.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 23. After that he tempereth it with dong, than eareth it, soweth it, and haroweth it.
1587. Harrison, England, I. xxiv. (1877), I. 361. A siluer saucer … was eared vp by a plough.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 505. When you ere it [the ground] up with the plough.
1607. Norden, Surv. Dial., 181. A plow will ayre an Acre a day.
1721–1800. Bailey, To Ear, or Are, to till, plough, or fallow the Ground.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 83. But if you’ll ear the soil For wheaten harvest.
b. absol.
a. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xvii. 7. Hwylc eower hæfþ eriʓendne þeow.
c. 1205. Lay., 10030. Heo gunnen to ærien.
1297. R. Glouc., 21. Heo … erede and sewe, So þat in lutel while gode cornes hem grew.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, I. xix. (1554), 35 b. If ye not had hered in my calf.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 74/4. The oxen erid in the ploughe.
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. ix. 10. That he which eareth should ear in hope.
c. 1630. in Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 77 (1810), 78. Plough with a golden coulter, And eare with a gilded shere.
2. transf. and fig.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 28. I wolde have told you fully … But all this thing I moste as now forbere, I have … a large feeld to ere.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 271/3. With the plough of his tonge erye the feldes unresonable.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, II. F ij. Long pilgrimage you haue to pas, huge feelde of seas to eare.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, I. xiv. 22. The field of loue, with plow of vertue eared.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. iv. 49. Make the Sea serue them; which they eare and wound With keeles.
Hence Eared, Earing ppl. adjs.; Earer sb., a plowman.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxviii. 24. Whether al day shal ere the erere, that he sowe.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 485. Without toune, house, or tree … or eared land.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 141. Eryar of londe, arator.
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846), 178. He maketh many mysteries of the Cross: as the hoised sail, the earing plough, the blowing winds.
1594. ? Greene, Selimus, Wks. 1881–3, XIV. 244. The vnmanured land, Which answeres not his earers greedie mind.
