3 letter word starting with e

Words Parts of Speech Meaning/Definition/Similar Words
ean verb t. & i. To bring forth, as young; to yean.
ear noun The organ of hearing; the external ear., The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; the power of discriminating between different tones; as, a nice ear for music; — in the singular only., That which resembles in shape or position the ear of an animal; any prominence or projection on an object, — usually one for support or attachment; a lug; a handle; as, the ears of a tub, a skillet, or dish. The ears of a boat are outside kneepieces near the bow. See Illust. of Bell., Same as Acroterium., Same as Crossette., Privilege of being kindly heard; favor; attention., To take in with the ears; to hear., The spike or head of any cereal (as, wheat, rye, barley, Indian corn, etc.), containing the kernels., To put forth ears in growing; to form ears, as grain; as, this corn ears well., To plow or till; to cultivate.
eat of Eat, of Eat, To chew and swallow as food; to devour; — said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread., To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear., To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board., To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef., To make one’s way slowly.
ebb noun The European bunting., The reflux or flowing back of the tide; the return of the tidal wave toward the sea; — opposed to flood; as, the boats will go out on the ebb., The state or time of passing away; a falling from a better to a worse state; low state or condition; decline; decay., To flow back; to return, as the water of a tide toward the ocean; — opposed to flow., To return or fall back from a better to a worse state; to decline; to decay; to recede., To cause to flow back., Receding; going out; falling; shallow; low.
edh noun The name of the Anglo-Saxon letter /, capital form /. It is sounded as “English th in a similar word: //er, other, d//, doth.”
eek verb t. Alt. of Eeke
eel noun An elongated fish of many genera and species. The common eels of Europe and America belong to the genus Anguilla. The electrical eel is a species of Gymnotus. The so called vinegar eel is a minute nematode worm. See Conger eel, Electric eel, and Gymnotus.
een noun The old plural of Eye.
eet obs. imp. of Eat.
eft noun A European lizard of the genus Seps., A salamander, esp. the European smooth newt (Triton punctatus)., Again; afterwards; soon; quickly.
egg noun The oval or roundish body laid by domestic poultry and other birds, tortoises, etc. It consists of a yolk, usually surrounded by the “white” or albumen, and inclosed in a shell or strong membrane., A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell., Anything resembling an egg in form., To urge on; to instigate; to incite/
ego noun The conscious and permanent subject of all psychical experiences, whether held to be directly known or the product of reflective thought; — opposed to non-ego.
eke verb t. To increase; to add to; to augment; — now commonly used with out, the notion conveyed being to add to, or piece out by a laborious, inferior, or scanty addition; as, to eke out a scanty supply of one kind with some other., In addition; also; likewise., An addition.
eld adjective Old., Age; esp., old age., Old times; former days; antiquity., To age; to grow old., To make old or ancient.
elf noun An imaginary supernatural being, commonly a little sprite, much like a fairy; a mythological diminutive spirit, supposed to haunt hills and wild places, and generally represented as delighting in mischievous tricks., A very diminutive person; a dwarf., To entangle mischievously, as an elf might do., of Elves
elk noun A large deer, of several species. The European elk (Alces machlis or Cervus alces) is closely allied to the American moose. The American elk, or wapiti (Cervus Canadensis), is closely related to the European stag. See Moose, and Wapiti., Alt. of Elke
ell noun A measure for cloth; — now rarely used. It is of different lengths in different countries; the English ell being 45 inches, the Dutch or Flemish ell 27, the Scotch about 37., See L.
elm noun A tree of the genus Ulmus, of several species, much used as a shade tree, particularly in America. The English elm is Ulmus campestris; the common American or white elm is U. Americana; the slippery or red elm, U. fulva.
em- A prefix. See En-.
eme noun An uncle.
emu noun A large Australian bird, of two species (Dromaius Novae-Hollandiae and D. irroratus), related to the cassowary and the ostrich. The emu runs swiftly, but is unable to fly.
en- A prefix signifying in or into, used in many English words, chiefly those borrowed from the French. Some English words are written indifferently with en-or in-. For ease of pronunciation it is commonly changed to em-before p, b, and m, as in employ, embody, emmew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as in enable, enfeeble, to cause to be, or to make, able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as in enchasten. See In-., A prefix from Gr. / in, meaning in; as, encephalon, entomology. See In-.
end noun The extreme or last point or part of any material thing considered lengthwise (the extremity of breadth being side); hence, extremity, in general; the concluding part; termination; close; limit; as, the end of a field, line, pole, road; the end of a year, of a discourse; put an end to pain; — opposed to beginning, when used of anything having a first part., Point beyond which no procession can be made; conclusion; issue; result, whether successful or otherwise; conclusive event; consequence., Termination of being; death; destruction; extermination; also, cause of death or destruction., The object aimed at in any effort considered as the close and effect of exertion; ppurpose; intention; aim; as, to labor for private or public ends., That which is left; a remnant; a fragment; a scrap; as, odds and ends., One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet., To bring to an end or conclusion; to finish; to close; to terminate; as, to end a speech., To form or be at the end of; as, the letter k ends the word back., To destroy; to put to death., To come to the ultimate point; to be finished; to come to a close; to cease; to terminate; as, a voyage ends; life ends; winter ends.
ens noun Entity, being, or existence; an actually existing being; also, God, as the Being of Beings., Something supposed to condense within itself all the virtues and qualities of a substance from which it is extracted; essence.
eon noun Alt. of Aeon
eos noun Aurora, the goddess of morn.
ep- See Epi-.
era noun A fixed point of time, usually an epoch, from which a series of years is reckoned., A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian)., A period of time in which a new order of things prevails; a signal stage of history; an epoch.
erd noun The earth.
ere adverb Before; sooner than., Rather than., To plow. [Obs.] See Ear, v. t.
erf noun A garden plot, usually about half an acre.
erg noun The unit of work or energy in the C. G. S. system, being the amount of work done by a dyne working through a distance of one centimeter; the amount of energy expended in moving a body one centimeter against a force of one dyne. One foot pound is equal to 13,560,000 ergs.
ern noun Alt. of Erne, To stir with strong emotion; to grieve; to mourn. [Corrupted into yearn in modern editions of Shakespeare.]
err verb i. To wander; to roam; to stray., To deviate from the true course; to miss the thing aimed at., To miss intellectual truth; to fall into error; to mistake in judgment or opinion; to be mistaken., To deviate morally from the right way; to go astray, in a figurative sense; to do wrong; to sin., To offend, as by erring.
ers noun The bitter vetch (Ervum Ervilia).
ese noun Ease; pleasure.
est noun & adverb East.
eve noun Evening., The evening before a holiday, — from the Jewish mode of reckoning the day as beginning at sunset. not at midnight; as, Christians eve is the evening before Christmas; also, the period immediately preceding some important event.
ewe noun The female of the sheep, and of sheeplike animals.
ewt noun The newt.
ex- A prefix from the latin preposition, ex, akin to Gr. ‘ex or ‘ek signifying out of, out, proceeding from. Hence, in composition, it signifies out of, as, in exhale, exclude; off, from, or out. as in exscind; beyond, as, in excess, exceed, excel; and sometimes has a privative sense of without, as in exalbuminuos, exsanguinous. In some words, it intensifies the meaning; in others, it has little affect on the signification. It becomes ef- before f, as in effuse. The form e- occurs instead of ex- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, as in ebullient, emanate, enormous, etc. In words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s- or e-; as, escape, scape, elite. Ex-, prefixed to names implying office, station, condition, denotes that the person formerly held the office, or is out of the office or condition now; as, ex-president, ex-governor, ex-mayor, ex-convict. The Greek form ‘ex becomes ex in English, as in exarch; ‘ek becomes ec, as in eccentric.
exo A prefix signifying out of, outside; as in exocarp, exogen, exoskeleton.
eye noun A brood; as, an eye of pheasants., The organ of sight or vision. In man, and the vertebrates generally, it is properly the movable ball or globe in the orbit, but the term often includes the adjacent parts. In most invertebrates the years are immovable ocelli, or compound eyes made up of numerous ocelli. See Ocellus., The faculty of seeing; power or range of vision; hence, judgment or taste in the use of the eye, and in judging of objects; as, to have the eye of sailor; an eye for the beautiful or picturesque., The action of the organ of sight; sight, look; view; ocular knowledge; judgment; opinion., The space commanded by the organ of sight; scope of vision; hence, face; front; the presence of an object which is directly opposed or confronted; immediate presence., Observation; oversight; watch; inspection; notice; attention; regard., That which resembles the organ of sight, in form, position, or appearance, The spots on a feather, as of peacock., The scar to which the adductor muscle is attached in oysters and other bivalve shells; also, the adductor muscle itself, esp. when used as food, as in the scallop., The bud or sprout of a plant or tuber; as the eye of a potato., The center of a target; the bull’s-eye., A small loop to receive a hook; as hooks and eyes on a dress., The hole through the head of a needle., A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a rope, hook, pin, shaft, etc.; as an eye at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss; as an eye through a crank; an eye at the end of rope., The hole through the upper millstone., That which resembles the eye in relative importance or beauty., Tinge; shade of color., To fix the eye on; to look on; to view; to observe; particularly, to observe or watch narrowly, or with fixed attention; to hold in view., To appear; to look.
eyr noun Air.
ery noun A dish of anything fried., A state of excitement; as, to be in a fry.