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eager
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
eager
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
eager to please
▪ Most children are eager to please.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
▪ Glover was genial, modest, and always eager to improve himself.
▪ Bosses were not always eager to befriend trainees.
▪ Inder Lal is always eager to hear Chid's letters.
▪ Danny himself has two young children, always eager for exciting stories.
▪ They were always eager to help or run messages and she enjoyed making tea and cakes for them.
▪ They are always eager to learn more about the world in which they live...
▪ Cousteau, barely in his twenties, was a happy-go-lucky youngster, always eager and willing and a more than competent seaman.
▪ And not such a bad parent-#always with time to spare, always eager to please, often funny.
as
▪ Either way, it looks like women will be as eager as men to invest in a tux for Christmas.
▪ People are quick to slap that label on you, and then just as eager to predict your downfall.
▪ The spirited young woman who had been as eager for life as he was?
▪ I was as eager to get out of that place as Jasper was.
▪ At the end of the day the teacher was as eager to leave as the children.
▪ Figaro seems as eager to bed his fiancee as does the Count Almaviva.
▪ But she stood up as eager as Joan of Arc before the judges at her infamous trial.
▪ Litchfield asked, and Sam nodded as he lit his cigarette, trying not to look as eager as he felt.
ever
▪ Chameleon, ever eager to fit in?
▪ Walsh, ever eager to stick his finger in some one else's pie, gravitated towards the foreign affairs discussion group.
more
▪ No one was more eager for life, and none better equipped to live it fully.
▪ Crowds are larger and more eager to touch a president.
▪ How much more eager those warriors would have been to contact a foe face to face.
▪ There are many others who seem even more eager to hold on to the old century.
▪ Newspapers and magazines are more eager than ever to get the shots that count.
▪ He is more eager and able to expand our faith than we are to have it done.
most
▪ He was usually the person most eager to get the guillotine through.
▪ Even the most eager activists of 1965 soon headed for the hills of Santa Barbara and the communes of Vermont.
▪ Would-be homeowners and real estate agents are among the most eager to see an end to the crisis.
▪ It was indeed the down-and-out who seemed most eager to hear the new message.
▪ Tomato growers are some of the most eager gardeners there are, Bramhall observed.
particularly
▪ They and their colleagues are particularly eager to generate interest among the young.
so
▪ Oh, how could she have let herself be so easily tricked, so eager to believe that he had changed?
▪ Y., so eager to espouse other causes, has thus far been uncharacteristically low key and ineffective.
▪ Can not afford national advertising, so relies on verbal testimonials to expand business, so eager to please.
▪ He had never in his life seen two men so eager to do business.
▪ But why were they so eager to discourage visitors?
▪ They were so innocent, so vulnerable, so eager to behave decently.
▪ It was no wonder, on reflection, that Lorimer had been so eager to spend time in Cleo's irreverent company.
▪ They looked so eager, so willing to be pleased.
too
▪ Many parents are only too eager to hand their child over to a babysitter and enjoy a well-earned night out.
▪ I was afraid that if I appeared too eager, it might dawn on the woman she had made a terrible mistake.
▪ She did not want to appear either too eager or too casual.
▪ Was she not normal, was she too eager?
▪ The managers may have been too eager to oblige.
▪ There will always be some one only too eager to criticise your progress.
▪ He'd left the time a bit tight deliberately, not wanting to arrive too early and therefore look too eager.
■ NOUN
anticipation
▪ With eager anticipation, though her clear golden-brown eyes held a hint of sadness, Luce Weston descended the steps.
▪ For, as his master opened the kitchen door, there, in eager anticipation, stood Azor.
▪ As in the latter case, the horse may be in eager anticipation of what is to come!
face
▪ No new fighters ever seemed to come now, no fresh and eager faces appeared in the Takali mess.
▪ You should only see their eager faces how they brighten up when the Sisters come.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A crowd of eager fans were waiting outside the hotel.
▪ a group of eager volunteers
▪ She hurried home from college, eager to hear Tom's news.
▪ Simon was an ambitious man, eager for power and prestige.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As in the Horton days, the dancers were eager to work with him.
▪ But were they eager to learn?
▪ He was both eager to adopt the right stance and unnerved by the strangeness of it.
▪ I was eager to figure out how much money Peter, and I, had won.
▪ Much of the routine work was done by girl students eager to earn a little extra towards their fees.
▪ People are quick to slap that label on you, and then just as eager to predict your downfall.
▪ Perhaps the captain of the frigate was a touch too eager.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Eager

Eager \Ea"ger\, a. [OE. egre sharp, sour, eager, OF. agre, aigre, F. aigre, fr. L. acer sharp, sour, spirited, zealous; akin to Gr. ? highest, extreme, Skr. a?ra point; fr. a root signifying to be sharp. Cf. Acrid, Edge.]

  1. Sharp; sour; acid. [Obs.] ``Like eager droppings into milk.''
    --Shak.

  2. Sharp; keen; bitter; severe. [Obs.] ``A nipping and an eager air.'' ``Eager words.''
    --Shak.

  3. Excited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement; as, the hounds were eager in the chase.

    And gazed for tidings in my eager eyes.
    --Shak.

    How eagerly ye follow my disgraces!
    --Shak.

    When to her eager lips is brought Her infant's thrilling kiss.
    --Keble.

    A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys.
    --Hawthorne.

    Conceit and grief an eager combat fight.
    --Shak.

  4. Brittle; inflexible; not ductile. [Obs.]

    Gold will be sometimes so eager, as artists call it, that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself.
    --Locke.

    Syn: Earnest; ardent; vehement; hot; impetuous; fervent; intense; impassioned; zealous; forward.

    Usage: See Earnest. -- Eager, Earnest. Eager marks an excited state of desire or passion; thus, a child is eager for a plaything, a hungry man is eager for food, a covetous man is eager for gain. Eagerness is liable to frequent abuses, and is good or bad, as the case may be. It relates to what is praiseworthy or the contrary. Earnest denotes a permanent state of mind, feeling, or sentiment. It is always taken in a good sense; as, a preacher is earnest in his appeals to the conscience; an agent is earnest in his solicitations.

Eager

Eager \Ea"ger\, n. Same as Eagre.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
eager

late 13c., "strenuous, ardent, fierce, angry," from Old French aigre "sour, acid; harsh, bitter, rough; eager greedy; lively, active, forceful," from Latin acrem (nominative acer) "keen, sharp, pointed, piercing; acute, ardent, zealous" (see acrid).\n

\nMeaning "full of keen desire" (early 14c.) seems to be peculiar to English. The English word kept a secondary meaning of "pungent, sharp-edged" till 19c. (as in Shakespeare's "The bitter clamour of two eager tongues," in "Richard II"). Related: Eagerly; eagerness. Eager beaver "glutton for work" [OED] is from 1943, U.S. armed forces slang.

Wiktionary
eager

Etymology 1 a. 1 (context obsolete English) sharp; sour; acid. 2 (context obsolete English) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe. 3 (rfc-sense) Excited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement. Etymology 2

n. (alternative form of eagre lang=en nodot=1) (tidal bore).

WordNet
eager

n. a high wave (often dangerous) caused by tidal flow (as by colliding tidal currents or in a narrow estuary) [syn: tidal bore, bore, eagre, aegir]

eager
  1. adj. having or showing keen interest or intense desire or impatient expectancy; "eager to learn"; "eager to travel abroad"; "eager for success"; "eager helpers"; "an eager look" [ant: uneager]

  2. marked by active interest and enthusiasm; "an avid sports fan"; "a great walker"; "an eager beaver" [syn: avid, great, zealous]

Wikipedia
Eager (band)

Eager was a band formed by Patrick Andrew, formerly of the band PFR. Patrick began forming the new band with Greg Pope in 1995. Greg, who was also a songwriter, had been touring with PFR as a backup guitarist. To quell rumors of the unannounced but impending PFR breakup, Patrick publicly explained the new band as just "a side project". The two songwriters recruited drummer Paul Eckberg in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the three moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the fall of 1996. They quickly enlisted Mark Kloos from Raleigh, North Carolina, who was Greg's former bandmate in Apple Green and The Greg Pope Band.

The group recorded a self-titled album in early 1997, which Jimmie Lee Sloas produced. It was released that fall. The band continued touring and playing live shows until disbanding in mid-1998.

  • Patrick Andrew - Vocals, bass
  • Greg Pope - Vocals, guitar
  • Mark Kloos - Guitar
  • Paul Eckberg - Drums, percussion
Eager (novel)

Eager is a children's science-fiction novel written by Helen Fox, and first published in 2003. Eager is the name of a self-aware robot in a futuristic society controlled by a company called LifeCorp. Eager was shortlisted for the West Sussex Children's Book Award 2005 - 2006.

Eager

Eager may refer to:

  • Eager (surname)
  • Eager (band)
  • Eager (novel), a children's science-fiction novel written by Helen Fox
  • , an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II

Eager (horse)

Eager (1788 – after 1795) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career that lasted from April 1791 to July 1795 he ran twenty-two times and won ten races. In 1791 he proved himself one of the best British colts of his generation, by winning the Epsom Derby and four other races. Eager won a further four races in 1792, but the level of his form declined thereafter and he won only one race in his last three seasons. Towards the end of his racing career he was gelded.

Eager (surname)

Eager is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

  • Allen Eager (1927–2003), American jazz tenor saxophonist
  • Almeron Eager (1838-1902), American farmer, businessman, and politician
  • Ben Eager (born 1984), Canadian professional ice hockey player
  • Brenda Lee Eager (born 1947), American soul singer, songwriter and musical theatre performer
  • Clay Eager (1925–1995), American rockabilly and country music singer
  • Edward Eager (1911–1964), American lyricist, playwright, and children's book author
  • Kenneth Eager (1929–2013), English sculptor
  • Mark Eager (born 1962), English-born conductor and tromboninst
  • Samuel W. Eager (1789–1860), U.S. Representative from New York
  • Vince Eager (born 1940), stage name of Roy Taylor, British pop singer

Usage examples of "eager".

On this occasion it was unlocked, and Marian was about to rush forward in eager anticipation of a peep at its interior, when, child as she was, the reflection struck her that she would stand abetter chance of carrying her point by remaining perdue.

Moreover, thou sayest it that the champions of the Dry Tree, who would think but little of an earl for a leader, are eager to follow me: and if thou still doubt what this may mean, abide, till in two days or three thou see me before the foeman.

Bill of Rights uncoupled religion from the state, in part because so many religions were steeped in an absolutist frame of mind, each convinced that it alone had a monopoly on the truth and therefore eager for the state to impose this truth on others.

Under their stimulating influence the Convention was eager to begin the balloting, but the gathering shades of evening compelled an adjournment to the next morning.

Men came out from stores and counting houses, eager to have a hand in forestalling the embargo, and worked, adrip with perspiration, alongside stevedores and wharf rats and seamen and teamsters and farmers.

They will be ever eager to, ahem, serve your needs as well as those of the princess.

Schools of tiny mullet and squid skipped this way and that in frenzied fear, snapped at by the fierce albacore below and the eager beaks of the birds.

His five sons, strong in arms, ambitious of power, and eager for revenge, unsheathed their cimeters against the son of Alp Arslan.

Nervous about his costly library and his revisionist views, they were always eager to speak to Cassandra, hoping for some gaffe or juicy bit of gossip to pass her lips.

In a grey cloak and a round, grey hat with gold cords, followed closely by two shadowy attendant figures, he stepped briskly amain, eager to open those gates across the path of his ambition, locked against him hitherto by the very hands from which he now went to receive the key.

The soldiers had returned from maneuvers, and he was eager to question Argot about how the training had gone.

The slender blonde beauty of Perri-high-C-trill-and-A-above was distractingly fresh in his mind, the eager arpeggiation of her voice an indelible memory.

Annie was eager for the conference attendees to see and enjoy one of the grand old resorts of the Sea Islands.

The Creek sisters were eager to depart, wasting little time in packing Tommy into the bed of the pickup, fussing over him with auntly concern.

Several of the veteran fishermen were suddenly eager for his viewpoint on baiting, and on any number of other topics, at the local tavern where everyone hung out.