early
part of speech
adjective (early, earlier, earliest); adverb (early, earlier, earliest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Before the usual or expected time: «The bus came early». tree →
2) Near the beginning of a day, a period or an event: early morning, early in the year. tree →
3) Happening long ago or first: early humans, early cars. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: The rabbis note that righteous people such as Abraham rose early, and take it as a sign of eagerness to do God's commands. In the primary lessons: In everyday life: get up early, early to bed; arrive early for school; in safety, leave early so you don't rush across roads. In history: early people, early inventions. In maths and time problems: «earlier» means before; «5 minutes early» means 5 minutes before the set time. Phrases: early bird, early morning, early on, early night, the early bird catches the worm, earlier than, at the earliest.
examples
- And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. (Torah GEN.19.27, JPS 1917) tree →
- And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. (Torah GEN.31.55, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears; and the men were sore afraid. (Torah GEN.20.8, JPS 1917) tree →
- I rose early at dawn, and cried; I hoped in Thy word. (Writings PSA.119.147, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. (Prophets JOS.6.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. (Writings DAN.6.20, JPS 1917) tree →
- I got up early to watch the sunrise. tree →
- The train arrived ten minutes early. tree →
- We had an early night before the trip. tree →
- The early bird catches the worm. tree →
- Early people made tools from stone. tree →
- Spring flowers bloom early in the year. tree →
- Come earlier next time. tree →
- If school starts at 8:45 and you arrive at 8:30, you are 15 minutes early. tree →
- ‘Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?’ tree →
note
Comparisons: earlier, earliest (y → i). Opposite: late. Say «ER-lee». In maths: «early» means before the set time, so subtract: 9:00 − 10 minutes early = 8:50.
In the corpora
- And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
- (32-1) And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them.
- And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
- So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken.
- Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain clotheth it with blessings.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «early» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.