earnest vs pledge

earnest

noun
  • A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come. 

  • Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness. 

  • Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence) 

verb
  • To be serious with; use in earnest. 

adj
  • Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration. 

  • Serious or honest. 

  • Strenuous; diligent. 

  • Focused in the pursuit of an objective; eager to obtain or do. 

  • Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important. 

  • Possessing or characterised by seriousness. 

pledge

noun
  • An asset or person temporarily handed over to guarantee the fulfilment of something promised, under threat of permanent loss of the thing handed over; surety, security, hostage. 

  • A solemn promise to do something. 

  • The personal property so pledged, to be kept until the debt is paid. 

  • A bailment of personal property to secure payment of a debt without transfer of title. 

  • A person who has taken a pledge of allegiance to a college fraternity, but is not yet formally approved. 

  • A drinking toast. 

  • A promise to abstain from drinking alcohol. 

verb
  • To deposit something as a security; to pawn. 

  • To make a solemn promise (to do something). 

  • To give assurance of friendship by the act of drinking; to drink to one's health. 

How often have the words earnest and pledge occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )