Obsolete forms of earn.Obsolete forms of earn.n. See earn.Same as earn.n. A retired place or habitation: chiefly in composition. See etymology.n. A termination of Latin origin, occurring in nouns, as in cavern, cistern, lantern, tavern, etc., also in adjectives, as modern, but in adjective use generally extended with -al, as in eternal, fraternal, maternal, paternal, external, internal, infernal, supernal, etc.