Easter-flower 
phorbia (or Poinsettia) pulcherrima, frequently 
cultivated for ornament, its flowers being sur- 
rounded by large, bright-colored bracts, 
easterling (es'ter-ling), n. and a. [< ME. ester- 
ling (first found in the Latinized form Ester- 
lingi, pi., a name applied to the Hanse mer- 
chants from the East, i.e., from North Germany, 
who had special trading and banking privi- 
leges, and who appear to have coined money 
known by their name : see sterling) (after MLG. 
osterlink = G. osterling) ; < easter- (see east, n. 
and a., easier^) + -ling 1 .] I. n. 1. A native 
of some country lying eastward of another; an 
Oriental: formerly applied in England to the easterner (es'ter-ner), n. 
Hanse merchants and to traders in general from 
parts of Germany and from the shores of the 
Baltic. 
Having oft in batteill vanquished 
Those spoylefull Picts, and swarming Easterlings. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 63. 
Merchants of Norway, Denmark, . . . called Easter- 
lings. Holimhed, Ireland, an. 130. 
The merchants of the East-Land parts of Almain or easternmost (es'tern-most), a. Superl. [< east- 
High Germany well known in former times by the name em + -most.] Most eastern; situated in the 
Fuller, Worthies, xxiv. p O j nt furthest east. 
It is most likely the Easterlmgs did preserve a record Eastertide (es'ter-tid), n. Eastertime ; either 
of many words and actions of the holy Jesus, which are tllB .-.,. ,, s} , or . A : t, OT , H Ml;, V ^,. 
1824 
The instinct of Easterns is to estimate the importance of 
a prince very much in a direct ratio to the number of armed 
retainers he has about him. A. A. Rev., CXXVII. 154. 
2. [cap.] A member of the orthodox Oriental 
or Greek Church: in contradistinction from a 
Latin or Western. 
The Easterns contend that the Consecration is not com- 
plete without it [the Invocation]. 
C. E. Hammond, Liturgies Eastern and Western, Int., 
[p. xxxv. 
A large number of Christians, Protestants and Easterns 
as well as Catholics, profess to receive them (Christian 
dogmas] on ecclesiastical authority. 
H. y. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 325. 
[< eastern + -er 1 .] 
A person from the eastern United States. 
[Colloq., U. S.] 
The bulk of the cowboys themselves are South-western- 
ers. . . . The best hands are fairly bred to the work and 
follow it from their youth up. Nothing can be more fool- 
ish than for an Easterner to think he can become a cow- 
boy in a few months' time. 
T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 502. 
not transmitted to us. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 138. 
2. The name given to the English silver pen- 
nies (also called sterlings) of the twelfth, thir- 
teenth, and fourteenth centuries ; also to Euro- 
pean imitations of the same. See sterling. 
3f. The common widgeon, Afareca penelope. 
Latham. 4. The smew or white nun, Mergel- 
lus albellus. Montagu. [Local, British.] 
II. a. BelongingTo the money of the Easter- 
lings or Baltic traders. See sterling. 
easterly (es'ter-li), a. [= OHG. ostarlih, MHG. 
osterlich, G. osterlich = Icel. austarligr, adj., 
easterly; < easter- (see east, n. and a., easter^, 
eastern) + -ly 1 .] 1. Moving or directed east- 
ward: as, an easterly current; an easterly course. 
2. Situated toward the east: as, the easterly 
side of a lake. 
In whiche Lapland he [Arthur] placed the easterly 
bounds of his Brittish empire. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 2. 
3. Looking toward the east : as, an easterly ex- 
posure. 4. Coming from the east : as, an east- 
erly wind; an easterly rain. 
The winter winds still easterly do keep, 
And with keen frosts have chained up the deep. 
Drayton, On his Lady not coming to London. 
On 
the week ushered in by and following Easter, 
formerly observed throughout the Christian 
world as a holiday and with religious services, 
or the fifty days between Easter and Whitsun- 
tide, which were observed as a festival and with 
religious solemnities. This period is still re- 
garded by the church as a special festival sea- 
East-Indiaman (est-in'dia-man), n. A vessel 
employed in the East India trade. 
Sometimes an East Indiaman, with rusty, seamed, blis- 
tered sides, and dingy sails, comes slowly moving up the 
harbor, with an air of indolent self-importance and con- 
sciousness of superiority. 6. W. Curtis, Prue and I, p. 65. 
and sun., the distance eastward from a 
given meridian ; the distance made by a ship on 
an eastern course, expressed in nautical miles. 
We had run down our easting and were well up for the 
Strait. Macmillan's Mag. 
At noon we were in lat. 64 27' S., and long. 85" 5' W., 
having made a good deal of easting. 
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 358. 
eastland (est'land), n. and a. [< ME. eestlond, 
estlond, eastlond, < AS. eastland, < east, adv., 
east, + land, land.] I. . The land in the 
east; eastern countries ; the Orient. [Rare.] 
Il.t a. Eastward-bound; being engaged in 
the eastern trade. 
easterly (es'ter-li), adv. [< easterly, a.] 
the east ; in the direction of east. 
There seem to have been two adjacent but separate tor- Our own ei g nt E st India ships . . . and our eastland 
nadoes, moving easterly about sixty miles an hour. " eet > to tne n mber of twenty. Boyle, Works, VI. 192. 
Science, ill. 801. eastling (est'ling), a. [So. eastlin; < east + 
easter-mackerel (es'ter-mak"e-rel), n. Same -ling*. Cf. backling, headling, etc. See easel?.] 
as chub-mackerel. Easterly. 
eastern (es'tern), a. and n. [< ME. esterne, 
(esterne, < AS. edsterne (= OS. ostroni = OHG. 
ostroni = Icel. austrcenn, eastern), < 'edstor, 
east = OS. dstar, etc., east: see east,n. and a. eastward (est'ward), adv. 
Cf. western, northern, southern.] I. a. 1. Situ- 
ated toward the east or on the part toward the 
east: as, the eastern side of a town or church; 
How do you, this blae eastlin wind, 
That's like to blaw a body blind? 
Burns, To James Tennant. 
the eastern shore of a bay. 
Right against the eastern gate, 
Where the great sun begins his state. 
Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 59. 
2. Going toward the east, or in the direction 
of east : as, an eastern route. 3. Coming from 
the east ; easterly. [Bare.] 
I woo'd a woman once, 
But she was sharper than an eastern wind. 
Tennyson, Audley Court. 
4. Of or pertaining to the east ; Oriental ; being 
or occurring in the east: as, eastern countries; 
eastern manners ; an eastern tour. 
The easterns churches first did Christ embrace. 
Stirling, Doomesday, The Ninth Houre. 
[< ME. esttcard, < 
AS. edstweard, edsteweard, adv., < east, adv., 
east, + -loeard, -ward.] Toward the east; in 
the direction of east: as, to travel eastward; 
the Dead Sea lies eastward of Jerusalem. 
Eastern Kings, who to secure their reign 
Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain 
Sir J. Denham, On Mr. John Fletcher's Works 
Haste hither, Eve. and with thy sight behold, 
Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape 
Comes this way moving. Milton, P. L., v. 309. 
While more eastward they direct the prow, 
Enormous waves the quivering deck o'erflow. 
Falconer, Shipwreck, iii. 
eastward (est'ward), a. [< eastward, adv.] 1. 
Having a direction toward the east. 
The eastward extension of this vast tract was unknown. 
Marsden, tr. of Marco Polo. 
2. Bearing toward the east ; deviating or tend- 
ing in the direction of the east : as, the eastward 
trend of the mountains.- Eastward position (ec- 
cles.), the position of the celebrant at the eucharist when 
he stands in front of the altar and facing it : used with 
especial reference to such Anglican priests as face the 
altar throughout most of the communion office, in con- 
tradistinction from others who place themselves at the 
north end of the altar, facing southward. 
>'- eastwards (est'wardz), adv. [< eastward + 
' adv. gen. -s.] Eastward. 
.....,,.,. Such were the accounts from the remotest parts east- 
iHf.jSS?!? ?*">!:. iven .t tn . e 8 - "*< Marsden, tr. of Mlrco Polo. 
easy-chair 
(c) Free from want or from solicitude as to the means of 
living; atfordingacompetencewithouttoil; comfortable: 
as, easy circumstances ; an easy fortune. 
A marriage of love is pleasant, a marriage of interest 
easy, and a marriage where both meet, happy. 
Addison, Spectator, No. 261. 
The members of an Egyptian family in easy circum- 
stances may pass their time very pleasantly. 
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 187. 
2. Not difficult; not wearisome; giving or re- 
quiring no great labor or effort ; presenting no 
great obstacles; not burdensome: as, an easy 
task; an easy question; an easy road. 
This sikenes is righte easy to endure ; 
But fewe puple it causith for to dye. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 61. 
My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Mat. xi. 30. 
'Tis as easy as lying. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 
At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 
It is much easier to govern great masses of men through 
their imagination than through their reason. 
Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 287. 
3. Giving no pain, shock, or discomfort: as, an 
easy posture ; an easy carriage ; an easy trot. 
Mr. Bailey, wiping his face on the jack-towel, remarked, 
"that arter late hours nothing freshened up a man so 
much as an easy shave." 
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxix. 
4. Moderate; not pressing or straining ; not ex- 
acting; indulgent: as, a ship under easy sail; 
an easy master. 
He was an easy man to yeve penance. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 223. 
Stert nat rudely ; komme inne an esy pace. 
Bailees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 3. 
I have several small wares that I would part with at 
easy rates. Steele, Taller, No. 106. 
We made easy Journeys, of not above seven or eight score 
miles a day. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 2. 
5. Readily yielding ; not difficult of persua- 
sion; compliant; not strict: as, a woman of 
easy virtue. 
With such deceits he gained their easy hearts. 
Dryden. 
So merciful a king did never live, 
Loth to revenge, and easy to forgive. 
Dryden, Spanish Friar, v. 2. 
I am a Fellow of the most easy indolent Disposition in 
the World. Steele, Tender Husband, i. 1. 
6. Not constrained ; not stiff, formal, or harsh ; 
facile ; natural : as, easy manners ; an easy ad- 
dress ; an easy style of writing. 
There is no man more hospitably easy to be withall 
than my Lord Arlington. Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 16, 1671. 
Good manners is the art of making those people easy 
with whom we converse. Swift, Good Manners. 
His version is not indeed very easy or elegant ; but it is 
entitled to the praise of clearness and fidelity. 
Macaulay, Milton. 
Dryden was the first Englishman who wrote perfectly 
easy prose, and he owed his style and turn of thought to 
his French reading. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 340. 
7. Easeful; self-indulgent. 
Our Blessed Saviour represents in the Parable this young 
Prodigal as weary of being rich and easie at Home, and 
fond of seeing the Pleasures of the World. 
Stilling fleet, Sermons, III. i. 
The easy, Epicurean life which he [Frederic] had led, 
his love of good cookery and good wine, of music, of con- 
versation, of light literature, led many to regard him as a 
sensual and intellectual voluptuary. 
Macaulay, Frederic the Great 
8f. Light; sparing; frugal. 
And jit he was but eey of dispence ; 
He kepte that he wan in pestilence. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 441. 
9t. Indifferent; of rather poor quality. 
The maister of the feast had set vpon the table wine 
that was but easie and so-so. 
J. Udatt, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 348. 
10. In com., not straitened or restricted, or dif- 
ficult to obtain or manage : opposed to tigh t : 
as, the money-market is easy (that is, loans 
may be easily procured) Easy circumstances. 
See circumstance. Free and easy. See/rec. Honors 
are easy, in whist-playin<i. honors are equally divided 
between the sides ; hence, figuratively, of any dispute or 
contention between two parties, there seems to be no 
advantage on either side. [U. S.] = Syn. 1. Untroubled, 
contented, satisfied. 5. Pliant, complaisant, accommo- 
dating. 6. Unconstrained, graceful. 
eral problems or complications in the international" DoYi j ' e "~" 
tics of Europe growing out of the presence of tin- Turkish eas y ( e Z1 ), ', compar. easier, superl. easiest, easy (e zi), adv.; compar. easier, superl. easiest. 
[< easy, .] Easily. 
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, 
As those move easiest that have learned to dance. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 363. 
power in the southeast. [Early mod. E. also easie; < ME. esy, eesy, < ese, 
11. n. i. A person living in or belonging to the ease: see ease, n.] 1. Having ease, (a) Free 
;ernpartof a country or region; specifically, from bodily pain or discomfort ; quiet; comfortable: as, 
one belonging to one of the countries Ivine east the P atient nas sle P* we " ana is e "*n- () Free from 
of Europe; an Oriental. [Rare.] ' ' , t S,,d r fretfulne88 ; uiet ; ^l"" ' 8atisflel1 : easy-chair (e'zi-char),V. A chair so shaped 
h.^*"!2? them selves complained of the excessive Keep their thoughts em,, ami free, the only temper anj f such material as to afford a comfortable 
wherein the mind is capable'of receiving new informations seat ! especially, an arm-chair upholstered and 
Locke. Stuffed. 
neat of the sun. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 129. 
