earn on some commercial or business transaction; earn as salary or wages; " How much do you make a month in your new job?"; " She earns a lot in her new job"; " this merger brought in lots of money"; " He clears $ 5, 000 each month"

acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions

See Ern, n.

To merit or deserve, as by labor or service; to do that which entitles one to ( a reward, whether the reward is received or not).

To acquire by labor, service, or performance; to deserve and receive as compensation or wages; as, to earn a good living; to earn honors or laurels.

To grieve.

To curdle, as milk.

To gain, as just pay for one's labor, service, etc.; to merit.

To gain or deserve by labor.

To gain as a recompense for labor; merit.

To merit or deserve by labour, service, or performance; to acquire by such means.

To gain or win by labour; to reap the fruit of one's labour; to merit or deserve.

That was just what I was going to hand you- you get four hundred a week for this show, but you'll have to go in and earn it. – Blue-grass and Broadway by Maria Thompson Daviess

" I don't s'pose it's any of my business," the latter said, when Teddy concluded the story; " but I wouldn't be afraid to bet all I shall earn this week that you'll have trouble with that feller before the scrape is over. – The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair by James Otis

He's always a- saying: " Once begin that, an' it's all up; you never earn no more of your own." – The Nether World by George Gissing

I will earn our living now." – Victor Ollnee's Discipline by Hamlin Garland

" I want Mickey to earn a whole lot of money," declared Sister that night as they were getting ready for bed. – Brother and Sister by Josephine Lawrence

The plain truth is, I have a very little money in my pocket, no particular experience of life, and my bread to earn. – Masterman and Son by W. J. Dawson

One can't do absolutely nothing, and I don't quite see why I shouldn't earn a few honest dollars where I can. – The Mistress of Bonaventure by Harold Bindloss

Do you want to earn a little money? – The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde and Other Stories by Mary De Morgan

Nothing is so sweet as what we earn for ourselves, woman dear. – North, South and Over the Sea by M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)

A kindly name is something which A man must earn before he's rich. – The Path to Home by Edgar A. Guest

" I know; we must earn it somehow," he said. – Five Little Peppers at School by Margaret Sidney

Dall was saying that she thought in two years of hard work we might- that is, my father and myself- earn enough to enable us to live in the south of France. – Records of a Girlhood by Frances Ann Kemble

His family was poor, and he was forced at an early date to earn his own living, which he did by teaching school. – The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers by John Burroughs

After all, she helped to earn it! – Good Old Anna by Marie Belloc Lowndes

He says I could earn three dollars a week now! – Nine Little Goslings by Susan Coolidge

This girl was going out to earn her living, and he would stay to make it possible. – K by Mary Roberts Rinehart

I name that figure because it's my experience that I never could earn more; but the experience of other men may be different, and if they tell me they can earn ten, or twenty, or fifty thousand a year, I'm not prepared to say they can't do it. – A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells

Aye, you’ ll learn what it is to earn your bread in the sweat of your brow. – The Snow-Burner by Henry Oyen

You've got to earn your own living, and your son's." – Herbert Carter's Legacy by Horatio Alger