earnest
/ˈɝ.nɪst/ noun C2- A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.
Plural earnests
From the library
She stood several minutes before the picture, in earnest contemplation, and returned to it again before they quitted the gallery.
de Villefort,” said Renée, becoming more and more terrified; “you surely are not in earnest.”
“Suffer me, also, madame,” replied Villefort, “to add my earnest request to Mademoiselle de Saint-Méran’s, that you will kindly allow the veil of oblivion to cover and conceal the past.
The remaining birds at once forsook his fields, crying to each other, “It is time for us to be off to Liliput: for this man is no longer content to scare us, but begins to show us in earnest what he can do.”
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