err 
Hut errs not Nature from this gnu i., us cud, 
From liuruiug suns when llviil death-, descend 
l-ope, Essay on Man, I. 141. 
Alin'd at the helm, hi lance err it. JV,IH./.M, Ccraint. 
3. To go astray in thought or belief; be mis- 
taken; blunder; misapprehend. 
Thereby shall we uliiidnw 
The numbers of our host, and make discover} 
Krr in report of us. **, Macbeth, v. 4. 
They do not HT 
Who say that, when the poet dies, 
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper. 
Scott, L. of L. M., v. 1. 
Il.t trans. 1. To mislead; cause to deviate 
from truth or rectitude. 
Sometimes he [the devil) tempts by covetousness drui 
kcnncss, pleasure, pride, to, err,, dejects, saves, kills, pro- 
tects, and rides some men as they do their horses. 
Burton, Auat. of Mel., p. 60. 
2. To miss; mistake. 
I shall not las behind, nor err 
The way, thou leading. Milton, f. L., x. 268. 
errable (er'a-bl), a. [< err + able.'] Liable 
to mistake ffallible. Bailey, 1727. [Hare.], 
errableness (er'a-W-nes), . Liability to mis- 
take or err. [Rare.] 
We may infer, from the errablenets of our nature, the 
reasonableness of compassion to the seduced. 
Decay o/ Chmtian Piety. 
errabund (er'a-bund), o. [< L. errabundux, 
wandering to and fro, < errare, wander: see 
err.} Erratic; wandering; rambling. [Bare.] 
Your errabund guesses, veering to all points of the lit- 
erary compass. Southey, The Doctor, Interchapter xm. 
errand 1 (er'and), . [Early mod. E. also errant, 
arrand, arrant; < ME. erendc, erande, arende, 
etc., < AS. cerende = OS. arwidi = OHG. aranti, 
aruiiti, drandi, etc., = Icel. eyrendi, orendt = 
Sw. arende = Dan. cerende, errand, message ; 
of. AS. ar = OS. pi. cri = Icel. arr = Goth, ai- 
rus, a messenger; origin uncertain; perhaps 
ult. connected with Skt. / ar, go.] A special 
business intrusted to a messenger; a verbal 
charge or message ; a mandate or order; some- 
thing to be told or done: as, the servant was 
sent on an errand; he told his errand; he has 
done the errand. 
Ye do symply youre mayster ereiide, as he yow co- 
maunded for to seche Merlin. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 43. 
1907 
bicolous: as, the errant annelids. 4f. Notori- 
ous; manifest: in this sense now spelled only 
in-i-iint. See arrant, 2. 
II. . A knight errant. [Bare.] 
" I am no admirer of knights," he said to Hogg, "and 
If we were errant*, you should have the tilting all to 
yourself." * I><"cden, Shelley, I. 1BO. 
errant 2 t (er'ant), a. [< OF. errant, ppr. of errer, 
esrcr, oirer, "oirrer, earlier edrer, edrar, make a 
journey, travel, go, move, etc., < ML. iterare 
(for LL. itinerari), make a journey, travel, < L. 
Her (itincr-), a journey, road, way, > OF. erre, 
eire, ME. erre, eire, eyre, mod. E. (m archaic 
spelling) eyre, a journey, circuit : see eyre, itine- 
rant. Of. errant 1 .] Itinerant. 
Our judges of assize are called justices errant, because 
they go no direct course, but this way and that way from 
one town to another, where their sittings be appointed. 
C. Butler, Eng. Grammar (1033). 
Errantia (e-ran'shiS), n. pi. [NL., pL of L. 
erran(t-)s, ppr. of errare, wander: see errant 1 .] 
A group of active locomotory polychsetous an- 
nelids, as distinguished from the sedentary 
or tubicolous group of the same order. They 
seldom construct tubular habitations, have numerous para- 
podia not confined to the anterior parts of the body, an 
possess a pnestomiuiu, and usually eyes, tentacles, and 
a proboscis armed with chltlnoiu teeth. Like the rest 
of the Polychata, they are normally dioecious and marine 
worms, vermiform In shape, with large setigerous feet, 
and gills on the back ; they correspond somewhat to the 
Linnean genus yereit (which see), and are known as An- 
tennata, Kapacia, tfotobranchia Chaitopoda, etc., ranking 
as an order or a suborder. The families Aereufa and 
ffephthyula are central groups. See I'olynoe, a typical 
member of the group. 
errantry (er'ant-ri), R. [< errant + -ry.} It. 
A wandering ; a roving or rambling about. 
After a short space of errantry upon the seas, he got 
safe back to Dunkirk. Addison, Freeholder. 
2. The condition or way of life of a knight er- 
rant. See knight-errantry. 
In our day the errantry is reversed, and^any^a strong- 
I have a secret errand unto thee, O king. Judges lii. 19. 
Our soul is not sent hither, only to go back again : we 
have some errand to do here. Donne, Letters, xxxvii. 
One of the four and twenty qualities of a knave is to 
stay long at his arrand. Uowell, Eng. Proverbs, p. 2. 
Fool's or gawk'B errand, the pursuit of something un- 
attainable; an absurd or fruitless search or enterprise. 
To send one on a/oof* errand is to direct or induce one 
to set aliout doing something that the sender knows, or 
should know, will be useless or without result. 
errand-t An obsolete variant of arrant. 
errant 1 (or'ant), a. and . [Early mod. E. also 
arrant (see arrant, now differentiated from er- 
rant); < ME. erraunt. arraunt, < OF. errant (un 
chevalier errant, a knight errant, le Juif errant, 
the wandering Jew, etc.), usually taken as the 
ppr. (< L. erran(t-)s) of errer, < L. errare, wan- 
der (see err); by some takenas the ppr. of errer, 
make a journey, travel: se^errant 2 .] I. a. 1. 
Wandering; roving; rambling: applied partic- 
ularly to knights (knights errant) of the middle 
ages, who are represented as wandering about 
to seek adventures and display their heroism 
and generosity. 
An outlawe, or a theef erraunt. 
Chaucer, Manciple s Tale, 1. 120. 
Where as noon arraunt knyght sholde not cesse to karolc, 
till that a certeiu knyght com thider ,,.., 
Merlin (E. E. 1. S.), 11. .HKJ. 
A shady glade 
Of the Rlphooan hlls, to her reveald 
Itv ,-f-rnnt siirights, but from all men conceald. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. viii. 6. 
I am an errant knight that lollow'd arms, 
With spear and shield. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ill. 4. 
2. Deviating ; straying from the straight, true, 
or right course ; erring. 
Knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, 
Infect the sound pine, ami divert his grain 
Tortive am! errant from his course of growth. 
Shak., T. andC., I. 3. 
But she that has been bred up tinder you, . . . 
Having ii" errant motion from obedience. 
Flies from these vanities as mere illusions. 
n-tch, :. \\ iff for ft Month, i. 1. 
Supped at the Lord Chamberlaine's, where also supped 
the famous beauty and errant lady the Dutchesse of Maza- 
r j m . Evelyn, Diary, Sept 6, 176. 
But when the Prince had brought his errant eyes 
Home fmm the ruck, sideways he let them glance 
At Enid, where she droopt. Tennyson, Gerainl. 
3. In zool., free; not fixed; locomotory; spe- 
cifically, pertaining to the Errantia; not tu- 
hearted woman goes journeying up and down the 
bent on delivering some beloved hero from a captivity 
more terrible than any the old legends tell. 
L. M. Aleott, Hospital Sketches, p. 238. 
errata, Plural of erratum. 
erratet n. [< L. erratum, mistake : see erra- 
tum.} A mistake; a fault. Hall. (Halliwell.) 
erratic (e-rat'ik), a. and n. [< ME. erratik, 
erratyk, < OF. (and F.) erratioue = Pr. erra- 
tic, eratic = Sp. errdtico = Pg. It. erratico, < L. 
erraticus, wandering, < errare, wander: see err.] 
I. a. 1. Wandering; having no certain course ; 
roving about without a fixed destination. 
error 
We hve erratic*, unscholarly foolish persons. 
J. Cook, Marriage, p. 9B. 
erratical (e-rat'i-kal), a. [< erratic + -al.} 
Same us i rriitir. [ IJure. ] 
erratically (e-rat'i-kal-i), adr. In an erratic 
manner; without rule, order, or established 
method; irregularly. 
They . . . come not forth In generations erratically, or 
different from each other, but In spectncal and regular 
,ha|>e8. Sir T. Brotme, Vulg. Err., 11. 0- 
erraticalness (e-rat'i-kal-ues), n. The state 
of being erratic. 
errationt (e-ra'shon), w. [< L. <rrao(n-), < er- 
rare, wander: see err.] A wandering. Cock- 
erratum (e-ra'tum), .; pi. errata (-tft). [L., 
neut. of erratus, pp. of errare, err, make a mis- 
take: see err. Cf.errate.} An error or mistake 
in writing or printing. The list of the errata of a book 
Is usually printed at the beginning or end, with references 
to the pages and lines in which they occur. 
A single erratum may knock out the brains of a whole 
passage. Cotcper. 
erret, . A Middle English form of arrl. 
errhine (er'in), a. and . [< Gr. ippivov, an er- 
rhine, < fv, in, + #f ('-) the nose.] L 
In med., affecting the nose, or designed to be 
snuffed into the nose ; occasioning discharges 
from the nose. 
II. n. A medicine to be snuffed up the nose, 
to promote discharges of mucus; a sternuta- 
tory. 
eningly (er'ing-li), adv. In an erring manner. 
He serves the muses erringly and ill 
Whose aim is pleasure, light and fugitive. 
Wordtworth, While Doe of Kylstone, Ded. 
erroneous (e-rd'ne-us), a. [Formerly also er- 
ronious ; < L. erroneug, wandering about, stray- 
ing (cf . erro(-), a wanderer, error, wandering), 
< errare, wander: see err.] It. Wandering; 
roving; devious; unsettled; irregular. 
They roam 
Erroneout and disconsolate. Philip*. 
2. Controlled by error; misled; deviating from 
the truth. 
Short remnants of the wind now and then came down 
the narrow street in erratic puffs. 
G. W. Cable, Old Creole Days, p. 150. 
2. Deviating from the proper or usual course in 
opinion or conduct ; eccentric. 
A fine erratic genius, ... he has not properly used his 
birthright. Stedman, Viet Poets, p. 248. 
3. Moving; not fixed or stationary : applied to 
the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars. 
Ther he saugh, with ful avysemente, 
The erratyk sterres, herkenynge armonye, 
With sownes ful of hevenyssh melodie. 
CAaueer, Troilus, v. 1812. 
4. In med., irregular; changeable; movingfrom 
point to point, as rheumatic or other pains, or 
appearing at indeterminate intervals, as some 
intermittent fevers. 
They are incommoded with a slimy mattery cough, stink 
of breath, and an erratic* fever. Haney, Consumptions. 
5. In geol., relating to or explanatory of the con- 
dition and distribution of erratics. See II., 2. 
Erratic blocks, the name given by geologists t those 
boulders or fragments of rocks which appear to have been 
transported from their original sites by ice in the Pleisto- 
cene period, and carried often to great distances. Such 
blocks are on the surface or in the most superficial depos- 
its. See boulder. Erratic map, one on whieh the dis- 
tribution of the erratics in a certain district is illustrated 
Erratic phenomena, the phenomena connected with 
erratic MOCKS. =8yn. 4. Abnormal, unreliable. See ir- 
,' >!>:!, ir. 
II. n. 1. One who or that which has wan- 
dered ; a wanderer. 
W illiani second Earl of Lonsdale, who added two splen- 
did art galleries to Lowther Castle, which he ... made a 
haven of rest for various erralwa from other collections. 
Edinburgh Her., CLXIV. 609. 
Specifically 2. In geol., a boulder or block 
which has been conveyed from its original site, 
probably by ice, and deposited at a distance ; 
an erratic block. See erratic blocks, under I. 
We have good reason to believe that the climate of 
America during the glacial epoch was even then some- 
what more severe than that of Western Europe, for the 
erratic* of America extend as far south as latitude 40 , 
while on the old continent they are not found much be- 
yiind latitude 50'. J. Crull, Climate and Time, p. 72. 
3. An eccentric person. 
A man's conscience and his Judgment is the same thing, 
and as the judgment, so also the conscience may be er- 
roneuui. Uobbet, Works, III. 29. 
And because they foresaw that this wilderness might 
be looked upon as a plaee of liberty, and therefore might 
hi time be troubled with erroneout spirits, therefore they 
did put In one article into the confession of faith, on pur- 
pose, about the duty and power of the magistrate in mat- 
X~ Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 146. 
3. Containing error; false; mistaken; not 
conformable to truth or justice ; liable to mis- 
lead : as, an erroneous opinion ; erroneous doc- 
trine or instruction. 
I must . . . protest against making these old most er- 
roneoui maps a foundation for new ones, as they can be 
of no use, but must be of detriment. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 267. 
There are, probably, few subjects on which popular 
judgments are commonly more erroneous than upon the 
relations between positive religions and moral enthusi. 
asn,. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 150. 
erroneously (e-ro'ne-us-li), adv. In an errone- 
ous manner; by mistake; not rightly; falsely. 
The profession and vse of Poesie is most ancient from 
the beginning, and not, as manie erroniuuily suppose, af- 
ter but before any ciuil society was among men. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 3. 
How Innumerable have been the instances In which 
lejiislative control was erroneuuily thought necessary 
//. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 439. 
erroneousness (e-ro'ne-us-nes), n. [< erroneous 
+ -ness.} The state of" being erroneous, wrong, 
or false; deviation from truth or right : as, the 
trroneousness of a judgment or proposition. 
error (er'or), n. [Early mod. E. also errour; 
< ME. errour, arrore,< OF. error, errur, mod. F. 
erreur = Pr. Sp. Pg. error = It. errore, < L. 
error, a wandering, straying, uncertainty, mis- 
take, error, < errare, wander, err: see err.] 1. 
A wandering ; a devious and uncertain course. 
[Obsolete or archaic.] 
He [.neas] through fatall errour long was led 
Full many yeares. Spenter, F. a, 1U- !* 
Driv'n by the winds and errour* of the sea. 
Dryden. .f.ncid. 
The damsel's headlong error thro' the wood. 
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynett*. 
2. A deviation from the truth ; a discrepancy 
between what is thought to be true and What is 
true ; an unintentional positive falsity; a false 
proposition or mode of thought. 
Lord, such arrore auiange them the! haue, 
It Is grete sorowe to see. 
Error is ... a mistake of our Judgment, giving assent 
to that which is not true. 
Locke, Human t nderstanding, I . xx. 1. 
