Etymology From Middle English ethe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless”), Middle High German œde (“easy”), Old Norse auðr, auð- (“easy”), Icelandic auð (“(adverb) easily”), auð- (“easy”). More at easy.
1
Easy; not hard or difficult.
Now chiefly dialectal
There, as he look'd, he saw the canvas rent, / Through which the voice found eath and open way.1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XIX, lxi
At these advantages he knowes 'tis eath to cope with her quite severed from her maids.1609, Thomas Heywood, Troia Britanica, or Great Britain's Troy:
1 more example
There has been much written on the learning of Shakespeare but not much to the purpose: one of our old Scotch proverbs is worth all the dissertations on the subject I have yet seen. "God's bairns", it says, "are eath to lear",[…].1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people:
Etymology From Middle English ethe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless”), Middle High German œde (“easy”), Old Norse auðr, auð- (“easy”), Icelandic auð (“(adverb) easily”), auð- (“easy”). More at easy.
1
Easily.
Now chiefly dialectal
He rub'd, and prickt, and pierst her to the bones, / Digging as farre as eath he might for stones ...1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines, lines 142-143:
Their food and their raiment he eith can supply.1823, J. Kennedy, Poems: