1. Tho fifth letter and sec- 
ond vowel in our alphabet. 
It has the same place in the order 
of the alphabet aa the correspond- 
ing sign or character in the older al- 
phabets, Latin and Greek and Phe- 
nician, from which ours is derived 
(see .4) ; but the value originally 
attached to the sign has undergone 
much modification. The compar- 
ative scheme of forms (like that given for the preceding 
letters) is as follows : 
rn 
Hlerogt 
Pheni- 
clan. 
Early 
Greek ana Latin. 
From the capital E have come by gradual modification and 
variation (as in the case of the other letters) all the other 
printed and written forms. The value of the sign in the 
Semitic alphabets was and still is that of an aspiration, a 
peculiar smooth A. But when the alphabet was adapted 
to Greek use, this unnecessary aspirate-sign wasutilized as 
a sign for a vowel-sound, either short or long, being nearly 
that instanced in our two words MM* and they. Thisdoubie 
value in point of quantity it had in all early Greek use, and 
until in one section of the Greek race and later, after 
their example, in all the others it was found conve- 
nient to distinguish the long sound by a separate sign, 
H (see //), after which the K was restricted to denoting 
the short sound, as in our met. This distinction was not 
Introduced into the Italican alphabets ; hence the same 
sign stands for both short and long sound in Latin, and 
with us. The name of the sign in Fhenician was he (of 
doubtful meaning; usually explained as 'window'); in 
Greek it was el, andlaterc i/uAo?, 'simplee' it is believed, 
in antithesis to the double at, which then had the same 
sound. In most of the languages of Europe the sign has 
retained its original Greek and Latin value ; In the English 
it has done this only so far as concerns the short sound ; 
the long sound lias, in the history of the changes of pro- 
nunciation, so generally passed over into what was origi- 
nally the long t-sound, that we now call this Bound long e 
(as in meet, mete, meat, etc.). The proper e-sound (in met, 
they) is phonetically a medium between the completely 
open a of father and the close sound < of pique. In Its 
two quantities {met, then) it constitutes about five per cent, 
of English utterance. Taking into account also the numer- 
ous digraphs, as ea, ee, ei, ey, ae, ie, oe, in which it is found, 
and its frequent occurrence as a silent letter, e is the most 
used of our alphabetic signs. This frequency is due in 
considerable measure to the general reduction of the vow- 
els of endings to c that constitutes a conspicuous part of 
the change from Anglo-Saxon to English. The total loss 
then, further, of many of these endings in utterance has 
left numerous cases of silent anal e, to which others have 
been added by analogy with these. A degree of value in 
the economy of our written speech belongs to it, in so far 
as its occurrence after a single consonant now almost regu- 
larly indicates the long sound of the vowel preceding that 
consonant, as in mate, mete, mite, mate, mute; but in many 
cases it appears also after a single consonant preceded by 
a short vowel, and such cases, &sgive, live, have, vineyard, 
constitute one of ttie classes where reform in orthography 
is most easily made, and has most to recommend it. (See 
-.) E has further come to be used as an orthographic 
auxiliary, in some cases after c and g, where it is conven- 
tionally regarded as preserving the so-called "soft" sound 
of those letters, as in peaceable, manageable. 
2. As a numeral, 250. Du Canqe. 3. As a 
symbol : (a) In the calendar, the fifth of the do- 
minical letters. (6) In logic, the sign of the 
universal negative proposition. See A 1 , 2 (6). 
(c) In alg. : (1) [cap.] The operation of en- 
largement: thus, Efx = f (x + I); also, the 
greatest integer as small as the quantity which 
follows : thus, EJ = 3. (2) [I. c.] The base of 
the Napierian system of logarithms; also, the 
eccentricity of a conic. 4. In music: (a) The 
key-note of the major key of four sharps, hav- 
iug the signature (1), or of the minor key of one 
sharp, having the signature (2); also, the final 
of the Phrygian mode in medieval music. (6) 
In the fixed system of solmization, the third 
tone of the scale, called mi : hence so named 
by French musicians, (c) On the keyboard of 
the pianoforte, the white key to the right of 
rvrry group of two black keys. (<l) The tone 
given by such a key, or a tone in unison with 
such a tone, (c) The degree of a staff assigned 
to such a key or toiio ; with, the treble clef, the 
lower line and upper space (3). (/) A note on 
such a degree, indicating such a key or tone (4). 
5. As an abbreviation: (a) East: as, E. by 
S,, east by south. See 8. E., E. 8. E., etc. (6) 
In various phrase-abbreviations. See e. g., i. e., 
E. and O. E., etc E dur, the key of E major. 
E moll, the key of E minor. 
e- 1 . A prefix of Anglo-Saxon origin, one of the 
forms of the original prefix gc-. It remains 
unfelt in enough. See -. 
6- 2 . [L. e-, e. reduced form of ex-, ex : see ex-.] 
A prefix of Latin origin, a reduced form of ex-, 
alternating with ex- before consonants, as in 
evade, elude, emit, etc. See ex-, in some scien- 
tific terms it denotes negation or privation, like Greek a- 
privative (being then conventionally called e- privative) : 
as, ecaudate, tailless, anurous ; edentate, toothless, etc. In 
elope the prefix is an accommodated form of Dutch cnf -. 
-e. [ME. -e, -en, < AS. -a, -f, -o, -u, -an, -en, etc.] 
The unpronounced termination of many Eng- 
lish words. Silent final e is of various origin, being the 
common representative (pronounced in earlier English) of 
almost all the Anglo-Saxon, Old French, Latin, etc., in- 
flection-endings. In nouns and adjectives of native origin 
it may be regarded as representing the original vowel-end- 
ing of the nominative (as in ale, tale, stake, rake, etc.), or, 
more generally, the original oblique cases (dative, etc.), 
which from their greater frequency became in Middle Eng- 
lish the accepted form of the nominative also, as in lode, 
pole, mile, wile, etc.; similarly, in words of Latin and oth- 
er origin, as rule, rude, spike, sprite, etc. In verbs of na- 
tive origin -e represents the original infinitive (AS. -an, 
ME. -en, >) mixed with the present indicative, etc., as in 
make, wake, write, etc. In a great number of words the -e 
has disappeared as an actual sound, the letter being re- 
tained, as a result of phonetic and orthographic accident, 
as a conventional sign of "length" an accented vowel 
followed by a single consonant before final silent e being 
regularly " long," as in rate, write, rode, tube, etc., words 
distinguished thus from forms with a "short" vowel, rat, 
writ, rod, tub, etc. In words of recent introduction - is 
used whenever this distinction is to he made. In some 
cases the vowel preceding -e is short, as in glee, live, bade, 
have, javelin, vineyard, etc., especially in polysyllables in 
ile, -me, -ite, etc., as hostile, glycerine, opposite, etc. ; but 
some of these words were formerly or are now often spell- 
ed without the superfluous , as bad, glycerin, Jibrin, de- 
posit, etc. Etymologically, final e in modern English has 
no weight or value, it being a mere chance whether it rep- 
resents an original vowel or syllable. 
-6. [F. -e, fern, -ie, pp. suffix, < L. -dtus, -dta : 
see -ate 1 .] A French suffix, the termination 
of perfect participles, and of adjectives and 
nouns thence derived, some of which are used, 
though consciously as French words, in Eng- 
lish, as VToiege, neglige, retrousse, degage.tearte, 
etc. The Anglicized form is -cc 1 (which see). 
ea. A common English digraph, introduced about 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, hav- 
ing then the sound of a, and serving to distin- 
guish e or ee with that sound from e or ee with 
the sound of e. The original sonnd a remained in 
most of the words having ca until the eighteenth century, 
and still prevails in break, great, yea, and in a dialectal 
(" Irish ") pronunciation of beast, please, mean, etc (which 
in dialect-writing are spelled BO aa to represent this pro- 
nunciation: BOG baste*)', it has become e in breadl, dread, 
head, meadow, health, wealth, leather, weather, etc., and, 
modified by the following r, in bearl, bears, heart, hearth, 
earth, learn, etc. In most words, however, the digraph 
ea now agrees in sound with ee, namely, e, as in read, pro- 
nounced the same as reed (but the preterit read like red). 
The modern digraph ea lias no connection with the Anglo- 
Saxon and early Middle English diphthong or " breaking " 
I'd, ea, though it happens to replace it in some words, as in 
bread! (Anglo-Saxon bread), lead- (Anglo-Saxon lead), earl 
(Anglo-Saxon edre). 
ea. An abbreviation of each. 
each (ech), a. and pron. [< (1) ME. ech, eche, 
tsehe, iche, yche, tichc, etc., these being prop, 
oblique forms, assibilated, of the proper nom. 
elc, Sic, eilc, tie, ilk, ylc, ttlc (> So. ilk, ilka), each, 
< AS. celc (= MD. ieghelick, ellick.elck, D. elk 
= OFries. elk, ellik, ek, ik = MLG. LG. ettik, elk 
= OHG. eogalih, ioqelih, MHG. iegelich, Gt.jey- 
lich), each, orig. *d-ge-lic, < a, ever, in comp. 
indef., + gelic, like, < ge-, a generalizing prefix, 
+ lie, body, form : see ay 1 (= o 3 ), i- (= c- 1 = 
y-), and tike*-, liki*, -fyl. Mixed in ME. with 
(2) ilc, ilk (mod. So. ilk 2 , ilka, q. v.), assibi- 
lated ilehc, it'/i, itch, inch, contr. of earlier tunic 
uirilc, iwilch, < AS. gehwilc, gchwylc (= OHG. 
galtwelih), each, every one, any one, < gc-, gen- 
1813 
eralizing prefix, + hieilc. who, which (see i- and 
which): and with (3) ME. ewilc, < AS. teghwilc 
(= OHG. eogihwelih), each, orig. "d-ge-hwilc, < 
a, ever, + gehwilc, each, any one, as above. See 
every, where -y stands for an orig. each, and 
such and which, where -ch is of like origin with 
-ch in each."\ I. distributive adj. Being either 
or any unit of a numerical aggregate consist- 
ing of two or more, indefinitely: used in pred- 
icating the same thing of both or all the mem- 
bers of the pair, aggregate, or series mentioned 
or taken into account, considered individually 
or one by one : often followed by one, with of 
before a noun (partitive genitive): as, each 
sex; each side of the river; each stone in a 
building; each one of them has taken a differ- 
ent course from every other. 
Thel token ech on by hymself a peny. 
WycHf, Mat. xx. 10. 
Betheleem is a litylle Cytee, long and narwe and weU 
walled, and in eche syde enclosed with code Dychea. 
ilanderillf. Travels, p. 69. 
She her weary limbes would never rest ; 
But every liil and dale, each wood and plalne. 
Did search. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 8. 
And the princes of Israel, being twelve men : each one 
was for the house of his fathers. Num. 1. 44. 
Each envious brier his weary legs doth scratch, 
Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay. 
Shot., Venus and Adonis, 1. 70S. 
II. pron. 1. Every one of any number or 
numerical aggregate, considered individually: 
equivalent to the adjectival phrase each one: 
as, each went his way ; each had two ; each of 
them was of a different size (that is, from all the 
others, or from every one else in the number). 
Than the! closed hem to-geder straite eche to other. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 39S. 
And there appeared . . . cloven tongues like as of fire, 
and it sat upon each of them. Acts ii. 3. 
You found his mote ; the king your mote did see ; 
But I a beam do find iu each of three. 
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 
Wandering each his several way. Milton, P. L., ii. 523. 
Each is strong, relying on his own, and each is betrayed 
when he seeks in himself the courage of others. 
Emerson, Courage. 
2f. Both. 
And each, though enemies to cither's reign, 
Do in consent shake hands to torture me. 
SAiii., Sonnets, xxviil. 
At oacnt, joined each to another; joined end to end. 
Ten masts at each make not the altitude 
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell. 
Shak., Lear, iv. . 
Each Other, (at) Each alternate ; every other ; every 
second. 
Each other worde I wag a knave. 
Up. Still, Gammer Ourton's Needle. 
Living and dying each other day. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, p. 2. 
(b) Each the other ; one another : now generally used 
when two persons or things are concerned, but also used 
more loosely like une another (which see, under aiwther) : 
as, they love each other (that is, each loves the other). 
eachwheret (ech'hwar), adv. [< each + where."} 
Everywhere. 
For to entrap the careles Clarion, 
That rang'd each where without snspition. 
Spenser, Muiopotmos, 1. 378. 
The mountains eachwhert shook, the rivers turned their 
streams. L. Bryskett (Arber's Eug. Garner, I. 288). 
Eacles (e'a-klez), n. [NL. (Httbner, 1816) ; etym. 
dubious.] A genus of large, handsome bomby- 
