EVER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ever

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/ˈɛvər/ Listen

adverb

Ever adv. (Sometimes contracted into e'er)

1.

At any time; at any period or point of time. "No man ever yet hated his own flesh."

2.

At all times; through all time; always; forever. "He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by scorn and cruelty."

3.

Without cessation; continually. Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of enforcement. "His the old man e'er a son?" "To produce as much as ever they can."

Ever and anon, now and then; often. See under Anon.

Ever is one, continually; constantly. (Obs.)

Ever so, in whatever degree; to whatever extent; used to intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated adjective or adverb. See Never so, under Never. "Let him be ever so rich." "And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only this, if God has placed him wrong." "You spend ever so much money in entertaining your equals and betters."

For ever, eternally. See Forever.

For ever and a day, emphatically forever. "She (Fortune) soon wheeled away, with scornful laughter, out of sight for ever and day."

Or ever (for or ere), before. See Or, ere. (Archaic) "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!" Note: Ever is sometimes joined to its adjective by a hyphen, but in most cases the hyphen is needless; as, ever memorable, ever watchful, ever burning.

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Etymology of 'Ever'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ever" Quotes from Famous Books

... the old man asked in a rambling manner, "how did you ever come to marry him? I've wanted to ask ...

— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... her anxious glance stole ever and again to the dizzy verge towards which she now unconsciously urged her own horse till Mr. ...

— Dark Hollow • Anna Katharine Green

... Catholics that were dispersed over the kingdom of Tigre, an employment very ill-proportioned to my abilities. The house at Fremona has always been much regarded even by those emperors who persecuted us; Sultan Segued annexed nine large manors to it for ever, which did not make us much more wealthy, because of the expensive hospitality which the great conflux of strangers obliged us to. The lands in Abyssinia yield but small revenues, unless the owners themselves set the value upon them, which we could ...

— A Voyage to Abyssinia • Jerome Lobo

... foundations, ripe was then for heaven The Cytherean prince. Venus besought That favor of the gods; round her sire's neck Her arms she clasp'd—"O, father!"—she exclaim'd— "Indulgent still, be more than ever kind: "Grant that a deity, though e'er so low, "AEneaes may become! who through my blood "Claims thee as grandsire; something let him gain. "Let it suffice, that he has once beheld "The dreary realm; and once already past "The Stygian stream."—The ...

— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... had no reason to wonder at his great precautions, since he (the Prince) knew by recent woeful experience what it was to live in a prison; and that it was notorious that the Cardinal ruled now in the Cabinet more absolutely than ever he did before. ...

— The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, Complete • Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

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