earl

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

earl, n. [OE. eorl, erl, AS. eorl man, noble; akin to OS. erl boy, man, Icel. jarl nobleman, count, and possibly to Gr. male, Zend arshan man. Cf. Jarl.].

 A nobleman of England ranking below a marquis, and above a viscount. The rank of an earl corresponds to that of a count (comte) in France, and graf in Germany. Hence the wife of an earl is still called countess. See Count.  [1913 Webster]

earl, n. 

 The needlefish.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

earl, n. a British nobleman ranking between a marquess and a viscount (cf. COUNT(2)).

Idiom

Earl Marshal (in the UK) the officer presiding over the College of Heralds, with ceremonial duties on various royal occasions. Earl Palatine hist. an earl having royal authority within his country or domain.

Derivative

earldom n.

Etymology

OE eorl, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

earl

Brahman, archduke, aristocrat, armiger, baron, baronet, blue blood, count, daimio, duke, esquire, gentleman, grand duke, grandee, hidalgo, lace-curtain, laird, landgrave, lord, lordling, magnate, magnifico, margrave, marquis, noble, nobleman, optimate, palsgrave, patrician, peer, seigneur, seignior, silk-stocking, squire, swell, thoroughbred, upper-cruster, viscount, waldgrave

ROGET THESAURUS

earl

Nobility

N nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order, quality, gentility, blue blood of Castile, ancien regime, high life, haute monde, upper classes, upper ten thousand, the four hundred, elite, aristocracy, great folks, fashionable world, peer, peerage, house of lords, house of peers, lords, lords temporal and spiritual, noblesse, noble, nobleman, lord, lordling, grandee, magnifico, hidalgo, daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku, don, donship, aristocrat, swell, three- tailed bashaw, gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate, gentry, gentlefolk, squirarchy, better sort magnates, primates, optimates, pantisocracy, king, atheling, prince, duke, marquis, marquisate, earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret, baronet, baronetcy, knight, knighthood, count, armiger, laird, signior, seignior, esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour, emir, ameer, scherif, sharif, effendi, wali, sahib, chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave, pasha, rajah, waldgrave, princess, begum, duchess, marchioness, countess, lady, dame, memsahib, Do$a, maharani, rani, personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark, notables, notabilities, celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar, big bug, big gun, great gun, gilded rooster, magni nominis umbra, every inch a king, noble, exalted, of rank, princely, titled, patrician, aristocratic, high-, well-born, of gentle blood, genteel, comme il faut, gentlemanlike, courtly, highly respectable, in high quarters, Adel sitzt im Gemuthe nicht im Gebluete, adelig und edel sind zweierlei, noblesse oblige.