To be serious with; use in earnest.
Serious in speech or action; eager; urgent; importunate; pressing; instant: as, earnest in prayer.
Possessing or characterized by seriousness in seeking, doing, etc.; strongly bent; intent: as, an earnest disposition.
Strenuous; diligent: as, earnest efforts.
Serious; weighty; of a serious, important, or weighty nature; not trifling or feigned.
noun.
Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
noun.
Seriousness; reality; actuality, as opposed to jesting or feigned appearance.
noun.
A portion of something given or done in advance as a pledge; security in kind; specifically, in law, a part of the price of goods or service bargained for, which is paid at the time of the bargain to evidence the fact that the negotiation has ended in an actual contract.
noun.
Anything that gives pledge, promise, assurance, or indication of what is to follow; first-fruits.
noun.
Synonyms Earnest, Pledge. Earnest, like pledge, is security given for the doing of something definite in the future, and generally returned when the conditions of the contract have been fulfilled. In 2 Cor. i. 22 and v. 5 we read that the Spirit is given as the earnest of indefinite future favors from God; in Blackstone we find “a penny, or any portion of the goods delivered as earnest.” Whether literal or figurative, earnest is always a pledge in kind, a part paid or given in warrant that more of the same kiud, is forthcoming; as in “Macbeth,” i. 3, Macbeth is hailed thane of Cawdor “for an earnest of a greater honor.” See also “Cymbeline,” i. 6. Pledge is often used figuratively for that which seems promised or indicated by the actions of the present, earnest being preferred for that which is of the same nature with the thing promised, and pledge for that which is materially different.
To serve as an earnest or a pledge of.