e'er

[ air ]

adverbChiefly Literary.
  1. contraction of ever.

Words that may be confused with e'er

Other definitions for EER (2 of 3)

EER

Other definitions for -eer (3 of 3)

-eer

  1. a noun-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from French (buccaneer; mutineer; pioneer) and productive in the formation of English nouns denoting persons who produce, handle, or are otherwise significantly associated with the referent of the base word (auctioneer; engineer; mountaineer; pamphleteer); now frequently pejorative (profiteer; racketeer).: Compare -ary, -er2, -ier2.

Origin of -eer

3
<French, Middle French -ier (Old French <Latin -ārius-ary as suffix of personal nouns); in some nouns replacing earlier suffixes (see engineer, charioteer) or the French suffix -aire-aire (see musketeer, volunteer)

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How to use e'er in a sentence

  • Byron in his day thought differently, for he sang: the most living crystal that was eer.

  • We'll take the steed out where he is, The gold where eer it be, And we'll away to some unco land, And married we shall be.

  • Her cap'n es Billy Coad, a man you may 'ave 'eer'd on, and wawn you would like to knaw.

    The Birthright | Joseph Hocking
  • Well, if eer I heard sic a stand-and-deliver-like speech since ever I was born,—exclaimed his grandmother.

    The Entail | John Galt
  • He was an innocent poor man that wouldnt harm a child, besides being pleasant and agreeable as eer a one youd meet.

    The Search Party | G. A. Birmingham

British Dictionary definitions for e'er (1 of 2)

e'er

/ (ɛə) /


adverb
  1. poetic, or archaic a contraction of ever

British Dictionary definitions for -eer (2 of 2)

-eer

suffix
  1. (forming nouns) indicating a person who is concerned with or who does something specified: auctioneer; engineer; profiteer; mutineer

  2. (forming verbs) to be concerned with something specified: electioneer

Origin of -eer

2
from Old French -ier, from Latin -arius -ary

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012