from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ever \Ev"er\adv. [OE. ever, [ae]fre, AS. [ae]fre; perh. akin to
AS. [=a] always. Cf. {Aye}, {Age},{Evry}, {Never}.]
[Sometimes contracted into {e'er}.]
1. At any time; at any period or point of time.
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No man ever yet hated his own flesh. --Eph. v. 29.
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2. At all times; through all time; always; forever.
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He shall ever love, and always be
The subject of by scorn and cruelty. --Dryder.
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3. Without cessation; continually.
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Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of
enforcement. "His the old man e'er a son?" --Shak.
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To produce as much as ever they can. --M. Arnold.
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{Ever and anon}, now and then; often. See under {Anon}.
{Ever is one}, continually; constantly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
{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." --Emerson.
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And all the question (wrangle e'er so long),
Is only this, if God has placed him wrong. --Pope.
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You spend ever so much money in entertaining your
equals and betters. --Thackeray.
{For ever}, eternally. See {Forever}.
{For ever and a day}, emphatically forever. --Shak.
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She [Fortune] soon wheeled away, with scornful
laughter, out of sight for ever and day. --Prof.
Wilson.
{Or ever} (for or ere), before. See {Or}, {ere}. [Archaic]
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Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! --Shak.
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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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