Definitions

erst

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  1. Obs. at first; originally
  2. Archaic formerly

Origin of erst

Middle English erest from Old English ærest, superlative of ær: see ere

Obs. first
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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erst

adverb

Archaic
Erstwhile.

Origin of erst

Middle English erest from Old English ǣrest ; see ayer- in Indo-European roots.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style

"Erst." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/ERST.

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Erst. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/ERST
Adjective

(not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) First.
Origin

From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-Germanic *airistaz (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere +‎ -est. Cognate with North Frisian eerst, ærst (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

Adverb

(not comparable)

  1. (archaic, poetic) Formerly, once, erstwhile.
Origin

From Middle English erst, arst, erest, from Old English ǣrest (“first, erst, at first, before all”), from Proto-Germanic *airist (“erst”). Cognate with Scots erst (“erst”), Dutch eerst.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style

"Erst." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/ERST.

APA Style

Erst. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/ERST

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WORDS NEAR erst IN THE DICTIONARY


  • erst
  • ershes
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  • Erskine Caldwell
  • erster
  • ersters
  • erstwhile
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