everlasting

adjective more everlasting · most everlasting · ever-lasting

1. Lasting or enduring forever; endless, eternal. And vvhether vve ſhall meete againe, I knovv not: / Therefore our euerlaſting farevvell take: / For euer, and for euer, farevvell, Caſſius, / If vve do meete againe, vvhy vve ſhall ſmile; / If not, vvhy then this parting vvas vvell made.
2. Chiefly of a deity or other supernatural being: having always existed and will continue to exist forever; eternal. And Abraham planted trees at Berſeba, and called vpon the name of the LORDE yͤ euerlaſting God, and was a ſtraunger in yͤ londe of the Philiſtynes a longe ſeaſon.
3. Synonym of sempiternal (“having infinite temporal duration, rather than outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether”).

   Similar: sempiternal

4. excessive, informal Continuing for a long period; eternal. this everlasting nonsense
5. excessive, informal Happening all the time, especially to a tiresome extent; constant, incessant, unending. It is never dark here, you are novv come to the Country of Everlaſting Day; VVhat think you? Is not this Eliſium?
6. excessive, informal Of clothing or fabric: lasting a long time; very durable or hard-wearing. Adr[iana]. VVhere is thy Maſter Dromio? Is he vvell? / S. Dro. [Dromio of Syracuse] No, he's in Tartar limbo, vvorſe than hell: / A diuell in an euerlaſting garment hath him; / On vvhoſe hard heart is button'd vp vvith ſteele: / A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe: / A VVolfe, nay vvorſe, a fell
7. excessive, informal Having flowers that retain their colour and form when dried.
8. excessive, informal Of a plant or plant part: synonym of perennial (“active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons”). The roote is threddy, like the roote of the ſecond kinde of Scrophularia, and is euer[-]laſting, putting forth yearely new ſprings, as alſo doth the rootes of the other two Scrophularies.
9. US, archaic, excessive, informal, regional Used as an intensifier. The everlastin’ cus he stuck his one-pronged pitchfork in me / An’ made a hole right thru my close ez ef I wuz an in’my.

Similar: continual, endless, eternal, immortal, incessant, infinite, interminable, never-ending, permanent, unceasing, unintermitted, uninterrupted, unlimited · Opposite: ephemeral, finite, limited, mortal

adverb more everlasting · most everlasting

1. US, archaic, informal, regional Used as an intensifier: extremely, very. […] Miranda’s impression, conveyed in privacy to Jane, was that Hannah was close as the bark of a tree, and consid’able selfish too; that when she’d clim’ as fur as she could in the world, she’d kick the ladder out from under her, everlastin’ quick; […]
2. obsolete In an everlasting (adjective sense 1) manner; forever. You your ſelves in the opinion of this everlaſting talkative Advocate of the King, your accuſer, vvent more than half-vvay tovvards it; […]

noun everlastings

1. countable Chiefly with a descriptive word: short for everlasting flower (“any of several plants, chiefly of the family Asteraceae (principally the tribe Gnaphalieae), having flowers that retain their colour and form when dried; also, a flower of such a plant”) This yellovv Euerlaſting or Floure-Gentle, called of the later Herbariſts Yellovv Strœcas, is a plant that hath ſtalkes of a ſpan long, […] The floures ſtand on the tops of the ſtalks, […] of a bright yellovv colour; vvhich being gathered before they be ripe, do keep their colour and beauty a long t
2. archaic, countable Preceded by the: someone or something that lasts forever, or that that has always existed and will continue to exist forever; an eternal, an immortal; specifically (Christianity), God. [T]he people of Thebais in Ægipt, reiected all the ſaid abſurdities of many Goddes, ſaying that there was none other God but only he whom they called Cnef [Kneph?], which was neuer borne, nor could euer dye, that is to ſay the Euerlaſting.
3. countable, historical, uncountable Synonym of lasting (“(uncountable) a durable, plain, woven fabric formerly used for making clothes and for the uppers of women's shoes; (countable) a quantity of such fabric”). There is a young man, a third-rate coxcomb, whose first care is always to flourish a white handkerchief, and brush the seat of a tight pair of black silk pantaloons, which shine as if varnished. They must have been made of the stuff called ‘everlasting,’ or perhaps of the same piece as Christian’s g

   Similar: lasting

4. abbreviation, countable, historical, obsolete, uncountable Short for everlasting trimming (“(uncountable) an embroidered edging used on underclothes; (countable) a quantity of such edging”)