Wiktionary

everlasting

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English, equivalent to ever +‎ lasting.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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everlasting (comparative more everlasting, superlative most everlasting)

  1. Lasting or enduring forever; existing or continuing without end
    Synonyms: immortal, eternal
  2. Continuing indefinitely, or during a long period; perpetual; sometimes used, colloquially, as a strong intensive.
    this everlasting nonsense
  3. (philosophy) Existing with infinite temporal duration (as opposed to existence outside of time).

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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Adverb

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everlasting (comparative more everlasting, superlative most everlasting)

  1. (colloquial) Extremely.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them.

Noun

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everlasting (plural everlastings)

  1. An everlasting flower.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      Reverently I replaced the grave-cloths, and, with a sigh that flowers so fair should, in the purpose of the Everlasting, have only bloomed to be gathered to the grave, I turned to the body on the opposite shelf, and gently unveiled it.
    • 1942, Emily Carr, “The Orange Lily”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:
      With a backward look Small said, “What a lovely lily!”
      “Well enough but strong-smelling, gaudy. Come see the everlastings.”
    • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 313:
      ‘It is true perhaps it is too late now for you to look like a rose; but you can always look like an everlasting.’
  2. (historical) A durable cloth fabric for shoes, etc.
    • 1988, Eric Kerridge, Textile Manufactures in Early Modern England, page 64:
      Everlastings of one kind or another were used to make gaiters, shoe tops and liveries for sergeants and catchpoles.
  3. (now rare, with 'the') God.

Translations

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Derived terms

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References

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