Definitions for the word "early" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. adv.
Soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes; as, come early.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. adv.
In advance of the usual or appointed time; in good season; prior in time; among or near the first; -- opposed to late; as, the early bird; an early spring; early fruit.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. adv.
Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. adj.
& adv. (-ier, -iest) 1 before the due, usual, or expected time. 2 a not far on in the day or night, or in time (early evening; at the earliest opportunity). B prompt (early payment appreciated). 3 not far on in a period, development, or process of evolution; being the first stage (early english architecture; early spring). 4 forward in flowering, ripening, etc. (early peaches). n. (pl. -ies) (usu. In pl.) Early fruit or vegetable. earliness n. [old english: related to *ere]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
5. slang
“to get up EARLY,” to prepare for a difficult task. “You’ll
have to get up very EARLY in the morning to beat that.” Early rising and
ability seem also closely connected by certain modifications of this
expression. Possibly the belief is that a man who rises early for early
rising’s sake deserves to be clever. Perhaps the greatest enjoyment a
day labourer—whose work commences at six in the winter mornings, and
who may have to rise at half-past four and trudge off—can have, is a
“quiet snooze” after the usual time of rising. The early rising in “the
steel” is the chief terror of that institution in the minds of habitual
criminals.
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864
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