Dictionary

eath en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English ethe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless”), Middle High German œde (“easy”), Old Norse auðr, auð- (“easy”), Icelandic auð (“(adverb) easily”), auð- (“easy”). More at easy.

Meanings

1. (dialectal) Easy; not hard or difficult.
   • At these advantages he knowes 'tis eath to cope with her quite severed from her maids. 1609, Thomas Heywood, Troia Britanica, or Great Britain's Troy:
   • There has been much written on the learning of Shakespeare but not much to the purpose: one of our old Scotch proverbs is worth all the dissertations on the subject I have yet seen. "God's bairns", it says, "are eath to lear",[…]. 1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people:
   • There, as he look'd, he saw the canvas rent, / Through which the voice found eath and open way. 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XIX, lxi

Forms

Antonyms

difficult · uneath

Deriveds

eathly

Relateds

eathy · eathful · eathlins

eath en · ADV

Etymology

From Middle English ethe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless”), Middle High German œde (“easy”), Old Norse auðr, auð- (“easy”), Icelandic auð (“(adverb) easily”), auð- (“easy”). More at easy.

Meanings

1. (dialectal) Easily.
   • Their food and their raiment he eith can supply. 1823, J. Kennedy, Poems:
   • He rub'd, and prickt, and pierst her to the bones, / Digging as farre as eath he might for stones ... 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines, lines 142-143:

Forms