Obs. Forms: (? 1 eornian), 6 erne, earne, 7 earn. [app. a var. of YEARN:—OE. ʓeornian; cf. dial. ear for year. All the senses of the present word, exc. 3, also belong to the form YEARN. The OE. eornian to murmur (Bosw.-T. in pres. pple. eorniʓende), eornfulnes solicitude, eornlice diligently (Leechdoms I. 190), seem to show that the two forms go back to an early period; see Sievers Ags. Gram. (ed. 2), § 212.
Prof. Skeat (s.v. YEARN) considers that earn, yearn to grieve (sense 2 below) are of distinct origin from earn, yearn in the sense to desire. He regards the former as a corruption of ME. ERME. But the development of sense from ‘desire’ to ‘sorrow’ presents no serious difficulty; and there is no clear evidence of confusion between the two words.]
1. intr. To desire strongly, to long. Also, To earn it. (? refl.)
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., March, 76. My courage earnd it to awake. Ibid. (1596), F. Q., I. i. 3. His hart did earne To proue his puissance.
2. To be affected with poignant grief or compassion; also impers. it earns me.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. iii. 3. My manly heart doth erne…: for Falstaffe hee is dead, and wee must erne therefore. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., II. ii. 129. That euery like is not the same, O Cæsar, The heart of Brutus earnes to thinke vpon.
1614. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, IV. vi. (1631), 68. Alas poore wretch! how it earnes my heart for him!
1651. P. Sterry, England’s Deliverance (1652), 30. I do now with bowels tenderly Earning … warn and intreat [etc.].
3. ? To tremble. rare–0.
1611. Cotgr., Frissonner. To tremble, quake, shrug, shiuer, didder, shudder, earne, through cold, or feare.
4. Of hounds, deer, etc.: To utter a prolonged cry. See EARNING vbl. sb.2 2.
