the act of measuring with meters or similar instruments; "he has a job meter reading for the gas company"
the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message; "he enjoys reading books"
a datum about some physical state that is presented to a user by a meter or similar instrument; "he could not believe the meter reading"; "the barometer gave clear indications of an approaching storm"
written material intended to be read; "the teacher assigned new readings"; "he bought some reading material at the airport"
a particular interpretation or performance; "on that reading it was an insult"; "he was famous for his reading of Mozart"
a city on the River Thames in Berkshire in southern England
at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time; "early morning"; "an early warning"; "early diagnosis"; "an early death"; "took early retirement"; "an early spring"; "early varieties of peas and tomatoes mature before most standard varieties"
being or occurring at an early stage of development; "in an early stage"; "early forms of life"; "early man"; "an early computer"
of an early stage in the development of a language or literature; "the Early Hebrew alphabetical script is that used mainly from the 11th to the 6th centuries B.C."; "Early Modern English is represented in documents printed from 1476 to 1700"
very young; "at an early age"
expected in the near future; "look for an early end to the negotiations"
before the usual time or the time expected; "she graduated early"; "the house was completed ahead of time"
at an earlier time or formerly; "she had previously lived in Chicago"; "he was previously president of a bank"; "better than anything previously proposed"; "a previously unquestioned attitude"; "antecedently arranged"
the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations"
the first part or section of something; "`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story"
the event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war"
the place where something begins, where it springs into being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her"
(comparative and superlative of `early') more early than; most early; "a fashion popular in earlier times"; "his earlier work reflects the influence of his teacher"; "Verdi's earliest and most raucous opera"
earlier in time; previously; "I had known her before"; "as I said before"; "he called me the day before but your call had come even earlier"; "her parents had died four years earlier"; "I mentioned that problem earlier"
the words of something written; "there were more than a thousand words of text"; "they handed out the printed text of the mayor's speech"; "he wants to reconstruct the original text"
the main body of a written work (as distinct from illustrations or footnotes etc.); "pictures made the text easier to understand"
a passage from the Bible that is used as the subject of a sermon; "the preacher chose a text from Psalms to introduce his sermon"