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The state or quality of being eager; ardent desire. "The eagerness of love." Addison.

The state or quality of being meager; leanness; scantiness; barrenness.

Any strong desire; an eagerness or longing. It God had given to eagles an appetite to swim. Jer. Taylor. To gratify the vulgar appetite for the marvelous. Macaulay.

Warmth of passion or affection; ardor; vehemence; eagerness; as, the ardency of love or zeal.

Warmth or heat of passion or affection; eagerness; zeal; as, he pursues study with ardor; the fought with ardor; martial ardor.

To desire with eagerness; to seek to attain something high or great; to pant; to long; -- followed by to or after, and rarely by at; as, to aspire to a crown; to aspire after immorality. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; Aspiring to be angels, men rebel. Pope.

xtreme point. I. Taylor. We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagerness. Sir F. Palgrave.

Greediness; strong appetite; eagerness; intenseness of desire; as, to eat with avidity. His books were received and read with avidity. Milward.

Vehemence of endeavor; eagerness; ardor; zeal. An end . . . worthy our utmost contenion to obtain. Rogers.

To wish for with eagerness; to desire possession of; -- used in a good sen Covet earnestly the best gifts. 1. Cor. xxii. 31. If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive. Shak.

The state of being desireful; eagerness to obtain and possess. [R.] The desirefulness of our minds much augmenteth and increaseth our pleasure. Udall.

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.

To feed with eagerness or voracity; to stuff one's self with food. Beaumont.

Willingness or eagerness to engage in labor which requires boldness, promptness, energy, and like qualities; as, a man of great enterprise.

Smallness; meagerness; slenderness; fineness, thinness. [R.] Paley.

The state of being fervent or warm; ardor; warmth of feeling or devotion; eagerness. When you pray, let it be with attention, with fervency, and with perseverance. Wake.

Eagerness; ardor; as, it is difficult to restrain the forwardness of youth.

To pant with eagerness; to show vehement desire. Quenching the gasping furrows' thirst with rain. Spenser.

To fixx the eyes in a steady and earnest look; to look with eagerness or curiosity, as in admiration, astonishment, or with studious attention. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven Acts i. 11.

e quality of being impatient; want of endurance of pain, suffering, opposition, or delay; eagerness for change, or for something expected; restlessness; chafing of spirit; fretfulness; passion; as, the impatience of a child or an invalid. I then, . . . Out of my grief and my impatience, Answered neglectingly. Shak. Wit…