from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Very \Ver"y\ (v[e^]r"[y^]), a. [Compar. {Verier}
(v[e^]r"[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Veriest}.] [OE. verai, verray,
OF. verai, vrai, F. vrai, (assumed) LL. veracus, for L. verax
true, veracious, fr. verus true; akin to OHG. & OS. w[=a]r,
G. wahr, D. waar; perhaps originally, that is or exists, and
akin to E. was. Cf. {Aver}, v. t., {Veracious}, {Verdict},
{Verity}.]
True; real; actual; veritable.
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Whether thou be my very son Esau or not. --Gen. xxvii.
21.
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He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he
that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
--Prov. xvii.
9.
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The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness.
--Milton.
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I looked on the consideration of public service or
public ornament to be real and very justice. --Burke.
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Note: Very is sometimes used to make the word with which it
is connected emphatic, and may then be paraphrased by
same, self-same, itself, and the like. "The very hand,
the very words." --Shak. "The very rats instinctively
have quit it." --Shak. "Yea, there where very
desolation dwells." --Milton. Very is used occasionally
in the comparative degree, and more frequently in the
superlative. "Was not my lord the verier wag of the
two?" --Shak. "The veriest hermit in the nation."
--Pope. "He had spoken the very truth, and transformed
it into the veriest falsehood." --Hawthorne.
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{Very Reverend}. See the Note under {Reverend}.
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