everlasting

• ever-lasting

From Middle English, equivalent to ever +‎ lasting.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɛvɚˈlæstɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛvəˈlɑːstɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æstɪŋ, -ɑːstɪŋ
• Hyphenation: ever‧last‧ing

everlasting (comparative more everlasting, superlative most everlasting)

1. Lasting or enduring forever; existing or continuing without end

   Synonyms: immortal, eternal

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Whether we shall meet again I know not; Therefore our everlasting farewell take; Forever, and forever farewell, Cassius.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 21:33:

     The Everlasting God.

2. Continuing indefinitely, or during a long period; perpetual; sometimes used, colloquially, as a strong intensive.

   this everlasting nonsense

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 17:8:

     I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee […] the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.

   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     And heard thy everlasting yawn confess
     The pains and penalties of idleness.

3. (philosophy) Existing with infinite temporal duration (as opposed to existence outside of time).

• (existing with infinite temporal duration) sempiternal

• (antonym(s) of “of a short life”): ephemeral
• (antonym(s) of “existing or continuing without end”): finite, limited, mortal

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.

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.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], signature C, recto:

     O that this too too sallied fleſh would melt, / Thaw and reſolue it ſelfe into a dewe, / Or that the euerlaſting had not fixt / His cannon gainſt ſeale ſlaughter, ô God, God,

• “everlasting”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.