earningn.1
/ˈəːnɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈərnɪŋ/ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > merit > [noun]
earningOE
meritc1230
meeda1387
ablenessa1425
meedfulness1530
meriting1549
desert1563
deservednessa1628
deservingness1631
meritoriousness1639
premiability1675
OE Wulfstan Sermo ad Anglos (Nero) (1957) 267 Mid miclan earnungan we geearnedan þa yrmða þe us onsittað & mid swyþe micelan earnungan we þa bote motan æt Gode geræcan.
OE Royal Charter: Cnut to Christ Church, Canterbury (Sawyer 959) in N. P. Brooks & S. E. Kelly Charters of Christ Church Canterbury, Pt. 2 (2013) 1094 He scel geldan edlean ealre ure weorke on domesdæge æfter æghwilces mannes earnunge.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 171 Ðanne wule he..demen elch man after his erninge.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 19 Crist us ȝef moni freo ȝeue [printed ȝene]..nawiht for ure ernunge bute for his muchele mildheortnesse.
1577 J. Knewstub Lect. 20th Chapter Exodus xiii. 242 God..is constrayned to bring vs from this folishe persuasion of our deseruings and earninges by our owne workes.
1626 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. VIII. O.T. xxi. 420 As we may offer vp our honest obediences vnto God, so we may expect and beg his promised retributions; not out of a proud conceit of the worth of our earnings..but out of a faithfull dependance vpon his pact of bounty.
2. Recompense, reward, esp. for service; gain, profit. In later use chiefly in plural, and frequently influenced by sense 3b. Now rare.With quot. OE cf. earningland n. at Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > profit > [noun]
earningeOE
issuea1325
lucrec1380
lucre of gainc1386
return1419
feracityc1420
revenue1427
vantagec1430
afframing1440
revenue1440
availc1449
proventc1451
provenuec1487
rent1513
fardel1523
chevisance1535
gains1546
commodity1577
proceed1578
increasal1601
benefit1606
endowment1615
gaininga1631
superlucration1683
profit1697
bunce1706
making1837
bunt1851
plunder1851
yield1877
recovery1931
earner1970
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xx. 476 Nan mon forðy ne rit þe hine rida[n ly]ste, ac rit for ðy þe he mid ðære rade [ear]nað sume earnunga.
OE Possessions, Rents, & Grants, Bury St. Edmunds in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 194 On sancte Eadmundes byrig beoð xvi hida eorðes landes vi hida into þæra byrig & þa x hida manna earninga land.
?c1250 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Egerton) 319 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 179 Ȝif we serueden god so we doð erninges [a1225 Egerton erminges, Trin. Cambr. for erminges], more we haueden of heuene þanne eorles oþer kinges.
c1275 ( Will of Thurstan (Sawyer 1531) in D. Whitelock Anglo-Saxon Wills (1930) 80 Ic an þat lond at Westone Agilswiðe buten þat lond þat Sewine haueð to earninge.
1649 J. Goodwin Vnrighteous Iudge 13 Suppose it should be granted you, that in the passage you transcribe, Icleerly [sic] shew my self to have been of your judgment, touching the unlawfulnes of all judiciarie proceedings against the lives of Kings, what earnings can you make of it?
1675 T. Brooks Golden Key sig. b3v If thou wouldest make any earnings of thy reading this Treatise, then thou must, I. Read, and believe what thou readest.
1703 W. Penn in Mem. Hist. Soc. Pennsylvania (1870) IX. 182 Now is the time to make earnings in the islands.
1782 Gentleman's Mag. June 268/1 The hon. gentleman..would rather resign his military honours, the earnings of long service, than return to America.
1866 T. Binney Wise Counsels viii. 103 The labour of the righteous, the earnings of virtue, tend to life, and the earnings of the wicked to sin.
2012 South China Morning Post (Nexis) 21 Jan. (Working Women Suppl.) 7 If you work as an art administrator, you will never be rich. You will be rich inside. We try to encourage the thought that we have spiritual earnings.
3.
a. The performance of work in exchange for wages or a livelihood; the acquisition of money through labour. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [noun] > earning money
winningc1400
earning1567
money earning1872
1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxviii. f. 304 You haue spoonne some substanciall webbe of threede for earning of your supper.
1640 J. D. Knave in Graine i. i. sig. Bv I have..helpt their wives and daughters to the earning of many a fair pound.
1691 Arraignm., Trials, & Condemnation Sir R. Grahme 31 They said they would help us to the earning of 1000 l. before Lady-day, if they went this time safe.
1796 E. Inchbald Nature & Art I. ii. 5 The precarious earning of half a crown, or a shilling..by an errand, or some such accidental means, was the sole support which they at present enjoyed.
1872 Daily News 3 May 6/1 The men who have earned them [sc. laurels] and know what the earning cost.
1891 Law Times 12 Dec. 96/2 The earning of marks..will extend to reconvicted licence-holders serving the remanets of former sentences.
1961 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Mag. Apr. 27/2 With all this earning and spending and living, there has not been much money..left over to settle all the problems of the future.
2002 Sunday Times of India 22 Sept. (Delhi Times) 4/4 The work I spoke of..centres on creative pursuits, always a focal point for Ariens, in some form or other as a means of earning.
b. In plural. The amount of money which a person acquires or becomes entitled to by his or her labour; the money made through working, trade or business activity, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > [noun] > personal income or acquired wealth > derived from work or office
juicea1544
earnings1581
perquisite1712
earned income1861
1581 B. Rich Farewell Militarie Profession E j With her yearnynges to helpe to releue hym.
1645 Bp. J. Hall Remedy Discontentm. xii. 61 When his better earnings have fraught his trencher with a warm, and pleasing morsell.
1699 J. Harris Love's Lottery iii. ii. 30 Sir, I laid out a whole Week's Earnings at your Lottery.
1732 Acc. of Workhouses 29 To know their earnings, and to give an account to the trustees.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. vi. 65 The whole..is commonly considered as the earnings of his labour. View more context for this quotation
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 416 The earnings of the peasant were very different in different parts of the kingdom.
1872 J. D. McCabe Lights & Shadows of N.Y. Life 729 A large share of the earnings of the poor go in policy playing.
1949 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (new ed.) vi. 128 A male lover who lives off a woman's earnings.
1990 G. Jasso & M. K. Rosenzweig New Chosen People iv. 177 One important attribute of a husband—his earnings.
2011 Independent 26 July 37/4 Waitrose's..free delivery for customers could eventually become a ‘very, very material issue’ for Ocado and one that could eat into its earnings.
c. In plural. The income produced by invested capital.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > [noun] > personal income or acquired wealth > derived from wages or investment
earnings1827
1827 Mass. Agric. Repository & Jrnl. 10 35 These are the gross earnings of railroads.
1888 Daily News 16 Feb. 2/1 The gross earnings of railways have increased.
1919 Town & Country 20 Aug. 42/2 The ridiculous stock market prices of our industrial common stocks are based on an expectation of a continuance of these abnormal earnings.
1953 S. Hays Outl. Statistics (ed. 4) xvi. 177 This adjustment is in respect of ‘invisibles’—international transactions involving earnings on capital and payments for services.
1991 Ski Feb. 39/1 An investment that will produce gross earnings of about $100 million.
Compounds
C1. With the first element in singular form.
a. General attributive, as earning capacity, earning power, etc.
ΚΠ
1865 Economist 12 Aug. 970/1 The earning power of an average American is far greater than the average earning power of anyone in Europe.
1869 Glasgow Herald 31 Mar. 6/6 The North British representatives argued their case more on the ground of their company's power of injury than of their earning capacity.
1906 J. London Let. 18 Feb. in No Mentor but Myself (1999) 196 My earning-power as a writer of fiction.
1949 Billboard 17 Sept. /1 (advt.) The Select-O-Matic ‘100’ Music System..when properly programed, has greater earning potential than any other music system previously developed.
2000 Economist 15 July 56/2 Salaries are so low that an official has to be a saint to forswear any extra earning opportunities.
2008 J. Caan Real Deal (2009) xxvi. 252 I was forty-two, the age when most people earn the biggest pay packets of their careers.., yet I was walking away from my earning capacity.
b.
earningland n. now historical (in Anglo-Saxon England) land held as recompense for service.
ΚΠ
OE Charter: Abp. Oswald to Ælfsige (Sawyer 1367) in J. M. Kemble Codex Diplomaticus (1845) III. 259 Þa nam Ealdulf hit and sealde þam þe he wolde to earnignclande.
c1275 ( Will of Ketel (Sawyer 1519) in D. Whitelock Anglo-Saxon Wills (1930) 88 Þat erninglond þat Alfwold mine man haueð vnder hande.
1849 J. M. Kemble Saxons in Eng. I. i. xi. 312 Whether land so put out was called earningland, I will not affirm.
1972 H. P. R. Finberg Agrarian Hist. Eng. & Wales I. ii. 510 If the continued need for service was uppermost in his [sc. the lord's] thoughts he might call the man ‘work-worthy’ and describe his holding as ‘work-land’ or ‘earning-land’.
2008 A. Williams World before Domesday Notes 187 The term earningland could encompass tenures other than lænland.
C2. With the first element in plural form.
a. General attributive, as earnings gap, earnings growth, earnings report, etc.
ΚΠ
1930 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 237/2 Was it quite reasonable to wager that the momentum of the 1929 earnings growth could be maintained indefinitely?
1959 Challenge June 32/1 Such factors as the spread of education..[and] the closing of the earnings gap..have eliminated many of the distinguishing characteristics of white-collar employment.
1972 Jrnl. Business 45 243 Companies that attempted to obtain the maximum impact from earnings manipulation.
1983 B. A. K. Rider Insider Trading iii. 147 Information..[that] relates to such matters as..earnings estimates.., extraordinary borrowing..and such other matters.
1993 N.Y. Times 26 Sept. iii. 1/2 Last week's investor unease... had more to do with..lackluster earnings reports and a still sputtering economic recovery.
2008 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 July b4/1 Challenging domestic conditions forced the iconic hotelier to slice its 2008 earnings outlook.
b.
earnings-related adj.
ΚΠ
1956 Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 19 Nov. 8/2 This earnings-related social insurance program is not intended to offset..the loss of wages..caused by the family breadwinner's death.
1977 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 3 Sept. 645/3 The Government has gladly provided the necessary civil servants to assess the self-employed for earnings-related contributions.
2000 Times 3 Aug. i. 27/5 It too relies largely on private occupational schemes to make up the earnings-related element in pension income.
c.
earnings drift n. the tendency for earnings to rise above national or negotiated rates through local overtime and other agreements; the extent of this increase; cf. wage drift n. at wage n. Compounds 3b.
ΚΠ
1960 Econ. Jrnl. 70 548 If the whole of the earnings drift were the result of over-award payments it could be said that some 77% of the increase in wage-rates paid was due to changes in award rates.
1976 Financial Times 24 Nov. 1/4 Anticipated earnings drift of up to 2 per cent..is attributed entirely to cyclical factors: higher overtime and some move to better-paid jobs.
2009 L. Dickens & M. Hall in W. Brown et al. Evol. Mod. Workplace (2010) xiv. 334 By the 1960s..legal intervention was increasingly advocated..to address..abuse of union power and the inflationary consequences of earnings drift.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
earningn.2
/ˈəːnɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈərnɪŋ/ Now rare (regional in later use). † 2. The process of curdling milk to make cheese; milk so curdled. Obsolete.
1. A substance used for curdling milk; rennet. Cf. earn v.3
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > substances for food preparation > [noun] > rennet
cheeselipeOE
runningOE
yearning1371
congealinga1398
renninga1398
rueninga1398
rundlesa1400
curd?1440
rendles1440
pressure1486
rennet?a1500
ruen1510
runnet1577
rennet bag1611
earning1615
coagulum1658
cheese rennet1671
steep1688
stomach-bag1704
vell1724
c1330 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 518 In Erthening' [read Erning], Cheseclathe, Meles, et Skeles emp. pro Deyria de Beaurep.
1347–8 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 545 (MED) In ernyng et cheseclathis et vasis emptis pro dayaria.
1615 G. Markham Eng. House-wife (1668) ii. vi. 149 When your Runnet or Earning is fit to be used.
1676 J. Lambert Country-man's Treasure 15 Put them into a quart of new Milk, and a pint of Erning.
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) at Cheese Go to the Pot where the Earning Bag hangs, and take so much of the Earning..as will serve for the Proportion of Milk.
1778 A. Wilson Teisa 15 See th'earning homogeneous parts attract, As frost on water, on milk here see it act!
1857 A. Douglas Hist. Ferryden (ed. 2) 120 Ye've drucken my haill bottle o' earnin I bocht fae Mr Addison just yesterday.
1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. Earning, rennet, the substance which is used to turn or curdle milk.
1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 90/2 Earnings, the rennet used for ‘turning’ and separating milk into curds and whey in order to make cheese.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > [noun] > milk > curds
curd1378
slipc1425
wrench-milk1510
well curds1538
float-wheyc1550
ricoct1582
curdlea1591
bonny clabber1605
fleeting1611
clabber1634
yearned milk?1635
trouts1683
sweet-cheese1688
earning1744
slip curd1784
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > formation of cheese > processes in cheese-making
hoving1741
earning1744
rendling1784
hot-iron test1876
renneting1889
cheddaring1929
1744 A. Monro Ess. Compar. Anat. 83 It is this fourth Stomach with the Milk curdled in it, that is commonly taken for earning of Milk.
1784 J. Twamley Dairying Exemplified 31 To allow the Milk to stand an Hour, in earning, or after the Runnet is put in.
1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin xi. 103 Guid, fresh whey it was too, juist aff this mornin's earnin'.
Compounds
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > [noun] > ruminant > parts of > stomach > fourth
reedeOE
maweOE
roddikin1512
earning bag1611
cheeselip-bag1615
abomasus1668
abomasum1678
cheeselip skin1788
rennet stomach1840
rud1841
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Mulette,..the maw of a Calfe; which being dressed is called the Renet-bag, Jreness-bag, or Cheslop-bag.
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) at Cheese Go to the Pot where the Earning Bag hangs, and take so much of the Earning..as will serve for the Proportion of Milk.
1812 T. D. Whitaker Hist. & Antiq. Deanery of Craven (ed. 2) 405 Cheselop (the same word) in old English was the calves stomach, or earning bag, employed to lop, or lopper, i. e. to coagulate milk for cheese.
ΚΠ
1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica II. App. 1131 [Pinguicula vulgaris] Steep-grass, Earning-grass. Scotis austral.
1898 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S. III. 194 Other English names are..Steep- or Earning-grass, from its use in curdling milk.
ΚΠ
1778 Fam. Acct. Bk. in E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (1877) at Earning, Earning-skin A calf-head and a piece of earning-skin.
1817 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire III. i. 48 A piece of good Earning-skin..about two inches square, having been soaked 12 hours in a tea-cup full of cold Whey, this solution, called Rennet, is poured into the pan.
1866 J. E. Brogden Provinc. Words Lincs. There is not enough earning skin in the milk to make it cruddle.
ΚΠ
1784 J. Twamley Dairying Exemplified 45 A very material circumstance to be attended to in Cheese-making, is the time..when the Milk is at rest, called earning time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† earningn.3
Obsolete.
1. The utterance of a prolonged cry by a deer or hunting dog; baying.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > family Cervidae (deer) > [noun] > sound made by
belling1553
earning?1578
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > sound made by > making sound
abayc1330
yearning1531
babbling1568
earning?1578
chiding1600
opening1662
tonguing1851
tolling1869
?1578 W. Patten Let. Entertainm. Killingwoorth 17 The earning of the hoounds in continuauns of theyr cry.
1631 S. Jerome Arraignem. Whole Creature xiii. §4. 219 The young Fawne with earning.
2. Strong desire or longing; poignant grief or compassion. Also: a feeling of this kind (frequently in plural).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > [noun]
rutha1200
ruenessa1225
ruefulnessc1225
birewnessa1250
pityc1300
ruea1325
compassionc1340
midtholing1340
miserationa1382
rueinga1382
bowel1382
mildc1390
tendresse1390
ruefulhead?a1400
ruthnessa1400
tendernessa1400
compunction1430
bowels of compassion1526
remorse1538
commiseration1582
kindheartedness1583
commorse1595
earning1603
tender-heartedness1607
compassionateness1614
visceraa1651
ruthfulness1674
karuna1850
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > sorrow caused by loss > [noun]
missa1225
misture1563
earning1603
desire?1611
resentment1632
regret1695
desiderium1715
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > longing or yearning > [noun]
ondeeOE
yearningeOE
longingOE
forlonginga1250
mourningc1300
yering13..
eye-seke?c1500
panting1580
greening1584
smackeringa1586
brame1590
languora1599
earning1603
lingering1608
yawning1635
tantalizing1640
slavering1642
longingness1651
tantalization1654
twittering1668
hankering1678
honing1725
lech1796
yearna1797
languishment1817
yearningness1839
hanker1881
tantalizingness1889
yen1906
1603 T. Jackson Davids Pastorall Poeme vi. 186 God is constrained..to chasten vs, least wee be condemned with the world, but it is with wonderfull compassion, and earning of bowels.
1631 S. Jerome Arraignem. Whole Creature xii. §4. 131 The strong movings of his hart, and the earnings of his affections.
a1649 G. Abbott Brief Notes Psalms (1651) (xxii. 14) 71 Mine heart is enfeebled, and as it were wasted and consumed within me, by reason of mine inward grief and earnings.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 95. ⁋1 The generous Earnings of Distress in a manly Temper.
1741 W. Guthrie tr. Cicero Orations II. 173 Support him..if ever ye felt the Earnings of a Parent now imploring your Mercy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1eOE
n.2c1330
n.3?1578