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Easement • noun 1 Law a right to cross or otherwise use another’s land for a specified purpose. 2 literary
comfort or peace.
Eddy • noun (pl. eddies) a circular movement of water causing a small whirlpool.
• verb (eddies, eddied) (of water, air, smoke, etc.) move in a circular way.
Effete • adjective 1 affected, over-refined, and ineffectual. 2 having lost vitality; worn out.
Effloresce • verb 1 (of a substance) lose moisture and turn to a fine powder on exposure to air. 2
(of salts) come to the surface of brickwork or other material and crystallize. 3 reach an optimum
stage of development.
Effluent • noun liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea.
— ORIGIN French effronterie, from Latin effrons ‘shameless, barefaced’, from frons ‘forehead’.
Egress • noun formal 1 the action of going out of or leaving a place. 2 a way out.
Egret • noun a heron with mainly white plumage, having long plumes in the breeding season.
Eiderdown • noun chiefly Brit. a quilt filled with down (originally from the eider) or some other soft
material.
Eke • verb (eke out) 1 use or consume frugally. 2 make (a living) with difficulty.
Electroencephalography • noun the measurement and recording of electrical activity in the brain.
Ellipsis • noun (pl. ellipses /ilipseez/) 1 the omission of words from speech or writing. 2 a set of
dots indicating such an omission.
Emollient • adjective 1 having the quality of softening or soothing the skin. 2 attempting to avoid
confrontation or anger; calming.
— ORIGIN Latin emolumentum (originally probably meaning ‘payment for grinding corn’), from
molere ‘grind’.
Endue • verb (endues, endued, enduing) literary (usu. be endued with) endow with a quality or
ability.
— ORIGIN Old French enduire, partly from Latin inducere ‘lead in’, reinforced by the sense of Latin
induere ‘put on clothes’.
— ORIGIN Latin enervare ‘weaken (by extraction of the sinews)’, from nervus ‘sinew’.
Enjoin • verb 1 instruct or urge to do. 2 (enjoin from) Law prohibit (someone) from performing
(an action) by an injunction.
— ORIGIN Old French enjoindre, from Latin injungere ‘join, attach, impose’.
— ORIGIN originally in the senses fortify and shelter with a fortification: from archaic sconce,
denoting a small fort or earthwork, from High German schanze ‘brushwood’.
Ensign • noun 1 a flag, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality. 2 the lowest rank
of commissioned officer in the US and some other navies, above chief warrant officer and below
lieutenant. 3 historical a standard-bearer.
Entomology • noun the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects.
— ORIGIN from Greek entomon ‘insect’, from entomos ‘cut up, segmented’.
Epicure • noun a person who takes particular pleasure in fine food and drink.
Epidermis • noun 1 the surface layer of an animal’s skin, overlying the dermis. 2 the outer layer of
tissue in a plant.
Epigram • noun 1 a concise and witty saying or remark. 2 a short witty poem.
Epistemology • noun the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, especially with regard
to its methods, validity, and scope.
Epistle • noun 1 formal or humorous a letter. 2 (Epistle) a book of the New Testament in the form
of a letter from an Apostle.
Epithet • noun a word or phrase expressing a quality or attribute of the person or thing
mentioned.
Equerry • noun (pl. equerries) 1 an officer of the British royal household who attends members
of the royal family. 2 historical an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge
over the stables.
Erg • noun Physics a unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one dyne when
its point of application moves one centimetre in the direction of action of the force.
— ORIGIN Latin.
Ermine • noun (pl. same or ermines) 1 a stoat. 2 the white winter fur of the stoat, used for
trimming the ceremonial robes of judges or peers.
— ORIGIN Old French hermine, probably from Latin mus Armenius ‘Armenian mouse’.
Errant • adjective 1 chiefly formal or humorous straying from the accepted course or standards. 2
archaic or literary travelling in search of adventure.
— ORIGIN sense 1 from Latin errare ‘err’; sense 2 from Old French, ‘travelling’, from Latin iterare.
Ersatz • adjective 1 (of a product) made or used as an inferior substitute for something else. 2
not real or genuine: ersatz emotion.
Erythrocyte • noun a red blood cell, containing the pigment haemoglobin and transporting oxygen
to the tissues.
Escheat • noun chiefly historical the reversion of property to the state, or (in feudal law) to a lord,
on the owner’s dying without legal heirs.
Escutcheon • noun 1 a shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms. 2 a flat piece of metal framing a
keyhole, door handle, or light switch.
Esquire • noun 1 (Esquire) Brit. a polite title appended to a man’s name when no other title is
used. 2 historical a young nobleman who acted as an attendant to a knight.
Etymology • noun (pl. etymologies) an account of the origins and the developments in meaning
of a word.
Eugenic • plural noun the science of using controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of
desirable heritable characteristics in a population.
— ORIGIN Greek eunoukhos ‘bedroom guard’ (eunuchs were formerly employed to guard the
women’s living areas at an oriental court).
Euphony • noun (pl. euphonies) 1 the quality of being pleasing to the ear. 2 the tendency to
make phonetic change for ease of pronunciation.
Eutrophic • adjective Ecology (of a body of water) rich in nutrients and so supporting a dense
plant population.
Exoteric • adjective 1 suitable for or communicated to the general public. 2 not belonging, limited, or pertaining to
the inner or select circle, as of disciples or intimates. 3 popular; simple; commonplace. 4 pertaining to the outside;
exterior; external.
— ORIGIN 1645–55; < LL exōtericus external < Gk exōterikós, equiv. to ex ter(os) inclined outward (exō- EXO- + -teros comp. suffix) + -ikos -IC
Expectorate • verb cough or spit out (phlegm) from the throat or lungs.
— DERIVATIVES expiable adjective expiation noun expiator noun expiatory /ekspi t ri/ adjective.
— ORIGIN Latin expungere ‘mark for deletion by means of points’, from pungere ‘to prick’.
Expurgate • verb remove matter regarded as obscene or unsuitable from (a text or account).
— ORIGIN from Latin ex tempore ‘on the spur of the moment’ (literally ‘out of the time’).
Eyrie • noun a large nest of an eagle or other bird of prey, typically built high in a tree or on a cliff.
— ORIGIN probably from Old French aire, from Latin area ‘level piece of ground’, later ‘nest of a
bird of prey’.