WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Ezra
    n 1: a Jewish priest and scribe sent by the Persian king to
         restore Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem
    2: an Old Testament book telling of a rabbi's efforts in the 5th
       century BC to reconstitute Jewish law and worship in
       Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity [syn: Ezra, Book
       of Ezra]

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Ezra
   help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under
   Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1).

     (2.) The "scribe" who led the second body of exiles that
   returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and author of the
   book of Scripture which bears his name. He was the son, or
   perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal
   descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we
   know of his personal history is contained in the last four
   chapters of his book, and in Neh. 8 and 12:26.

     In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see
   DARIUS), he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and
   to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8). Artaxerxes
   manifested great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him
   "all his request," and loading him with gifts for the house of
   God. Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in
   all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the
   banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were
   put into order for their march across the desert, which was
   completed in four months. His proceedings at Jerusalem on his
   arrival there are recorded in his book.

     He was "a ready scribe in the law of Moses," who "had prepared
   his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach
   in Israel statutes and judgments." "He is," says Professor
   Binnie, "the first well-defined example of an order of men who
   have never since ceased in the church; men of sacred erudition,
   who devote their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures, in
   order that they may be in a condition to interpret them for the
   instruction and edification of the church. It is significant
   that the earliest mention of the pulpit occurs in the history of
   Ezra's ministry (Neh. 8:4). He was much more of a teacher than a
   priest. We learn from the account of his labours in the book of
   Nehemiah that he was careful to have the whole people instructed
   in the law of Moses; and there is no reason to reject the
   constant tradition of the Jews which connects his name with the
   collecting and editing of the Old Testament canon. The final
   completion of the canon may have been, and probably was, the
   work of a later generation; but Ezra seems to have put it much
   into the shape in which it is still found in the Hebrew Bible.
   When it is added that the complete organization of the synagogue
   dates from this period, it will be seen that the age was
   emphatically one of Biblical study" (The Psalms: their History,
   etc.).

     For about fourteen years, i.e., till B.C. 445, we have no
   record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order
   the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year
   another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene.
   After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah,
   there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem
   preparatory to the dedication of the wall. On the appointed day
   the whole population assembled, and the law was read aloud to
   them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene
   is described in detail. There was a great religious awakening.
   For successive days they held solemn assemblies, confessing
   their sins and offering up solemn sacrifices. They kept also the
   feast of Tabernacles with great solemnity and joyous enthusiasm,
   and then renewed their national covenant to be the Lord's.
   Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service
   completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the
   walls of the city (Neh. 12).


Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's):

Ezra, help; court