a. Obs. exc. dial. [app. a var. of YEARNFUL; for the relations between the two forms cf. EARN v.3] Anxious, full of longing desire; sorrowful. Hence Earnfully adv.
[c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xiii. 22. Eornfullness [v.r. ʓeornfullnes] þisse worulde.]
c. 1520. Andrew, Noble Lyfe, II. lxxxix. He cryeth eurnefulli ho, ho!
1575. T. Rogers, Sec. Coming Christ (1577), 47 a. Their woofull cries … their earnefull plaintes.
1581. Studley, Seneca’s Hercules Œtæus, 191 b. Philomele … earnefully did mone Her tender Itis death.
1587. T. Hughes, Arthur, IV. ii. in Hazl., Dodsley, IV. 323. A deep and earnful sigh.
1596. Lodge, Marg. Amer., M iv b. His eies weeping piteously in so erneful maner.
1633. P. Fletcher, Pisc. Ecl., V. viii. 30. The earnfull smart, Which eats my breast.
1875. Parish, Sussex Gloss., Ernful. Sad; lamentable.
