in earnest : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: in earnest	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for in earnest
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
in earnest adv in a serious manner; "talking earnestly with his son"; "she started studying snakes in earnest"; "a play dealing seriously with the question of divorce" Synonym(s): seriously, earnestly, in earnest
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Earnest \Ear"nest\, n. [AS. eornost, eornest; akin to OHG. ernust, G. ernst; cf. Icel. orrosta battle, perh. akin to Gr. [?] to excite, L. oriri to rise.] Seriousness; reality; fixed determination; eagerness; intentness. Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest. --Sir P. Sidney. And given in earnest what I begged in jest. --Shak. {In earnest}, serious; seriously; not in jest; earnestly.