/errl/ , n.
1. a British nobleman of a rank below that of marquis and above that of viscount: called count for a time after the Norman conquest. The wife of an earl is a countess.
2. (in Anglo-Saxon England) a governor of one of the great divisions of England, including East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex.
[ bef. 900; ME erl, OE eorl; c. OS erl man, ON jarl chieftain ]