Whoever arrives first has the best chance of success; some opportunities are only available to the first competitors.

(transitive) To mark (sheep or other animals) by slitting the ear. / (transitive, by extension) To specify or set aside for a particular purpose, to allocate.

A mark or deformation of the ear of an animal, intended to indicate ownership. / (US, politics) The designation of specific projects in appropriations of funding for general programs.

simple past tense and past participle of earn

The rank of being an earl. / The territory controlled by an earl.

Made of earth or mud. / Made of clay (especially said of pottery). / (archaic) Earthly.

(transitive) to provide or add soil to / (transitive) to make earthly or earthlike

(obsolete except historical) One who tills the earth; a farmer, a husbandman, a ploughman.

Alternative letter-case form of Earthling

A fine clay used in fulling cloth.