foreveradv.n.adj.
/fərˈɛvə/, U.S. /fəˈrɛvər/ A. adv.
1.
a.
(a) For all future time, for eternity, in perpetuity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > for all future time or in perpetuity
evermoeeOE
evermorec1225
foreverc1275
for (also unto) evermore1348
for everlastinga1382
forever and a day1533
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 4006 For auere to ure liue we mȝen [read maȝen] ouer-sitten þis lond.
c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) (1978) l. 10209 Þat were his cun isend for ene and for euere.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 999 I graunt him greþli..mi loue for euer al mi lif time.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) ii. l. 279 Tuo dukes & tuo bisshopes foreuer toke þer leue.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. v. l. 124 Non go to galys, bote it be for euere.
a1500 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Hunterian) (1976) 159 (MED) Þe prest and he þat styrde hym þerto for to don it schuldyn ben exylyd foreuere.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Matrimonie f. xiii*v Let him now speake, or els hereafter foreuer hold his peace.
1581 W. Lowth tr. B. Batt Christian Mans Closet sig. Cv The seeds either of vertue, or vice once receiued, afterwards abideth foreuer.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ii. 51 One only God to be blessed for euer.
1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy Pref. sig. A5v An honest..wisher, that the best of our Clergy might forever continue as they are.
1696 N. Tate & N. Brady New Version Psalms of David cxxviii. 1 Forever blest be God the Lord.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 144 For ever I am ravish'd from thy sight.
a1743 J. Cannon Chrons. (2010) II. 381 The said seat [in the church] became appurtenanced to the Estate on which the house stood..so descends & goes with the Occupier of that house forever.
1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. i. 26 Madame St. Aubert knew not that she left it for ever.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1202 To him and his successors for ever.
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 322 I will speak of them forever, to my last breath.
1839 T. Carlyle Chartism iii. 21 The whole result is forever unattainable.
1878 J. Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. 1st Ser. 201 Hitherto certainly, and probably it will be so for ever.
1932 Confessions Dr. Archer 12 I would have married her at the moment to have assured she would be mine forever.
1987 Nature 19 Nov. 294/3 The efforts by astronomers to solve..the question of whether the Universe is open and will expand forever.
2012 Independent 14 Aug. 24/1 (heading) He describes how facing up to death changed him for ever.
(b) Used in slogans or cries of support, following the name of the person or thing supported.
ΚΠ
?1715 J. Dunton (title) King George for ever.
1784 J. Hartley Hist. Westm. Election 101 This mob still continued rioting all over the Garden, hallooing ‘Fox forever!’
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxv. 140 A set of ragamuffins comes a shouting after us ‘Gordon for ever!’
1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers III. xii. 199 One man lifted his arm, took off his cap, and feebly waved it aloft crying, ‘Old England for ever!’ in a faint shrill voice.
1914 McClure's Mag. Feb. 146/2 ‘The British Army forever!’ he shouted.
1965 N.Y. Times 14 Aug. 11/4 By 8 A.M., the youngsters were chanting ‘Beatles Forever,’ outside the hotel.
2003 Sunday Tribune (Ireland) (Nexis) 5 Jan. 19 Underneath, in the same hand, is the legend ‘Man United Forever’.
b. Chiefly colloquial. Incessantly, constantly; repeatedly; always.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > continuing > [adverb] > in a continuous manner or without stopping
fastlyOE
anonOE
everOE
everylikec1225
continuallyc1305
atreet1340
unceasinglyc1340
perpetuallyc1385
incessably1398
desselya1400
ithandlya1400
dreichlyc1400
restlessc1400
contunely1447
all alongc1450
dessantlyc1460
incessantly1481
still opece1488
uncessantlya1500
continuinglya1513
in ane1513
away1526
incessant1558
restlessly1567
square1570
stintless1598
ceaselessly?1606
residently1609
unrestingly1621
indesinently1651
jugially1654
unintermissively1656
constantly1682
hand to fist1706
forever1753
unintermittingly1784
round the clock1816
continuously1826
unpausingly1831
sustainedly1842
pauselessly1845
remorselessly1845
around the clock1872
play-by-play1889
ball-by-ball1906
non-stop1920
solidly1937
1753 S. Fielding David Simple: Vol. the Last vii. iv. 189 All my Neighbours be forever a talking of Mrs Bromly's Happiness.
1771 O. Goldsmith Hist. Eng. III. 225 It was the fate of Charles, for ever to aim at projects which were..impracticable.
1778 H. L. Thrale Diary 20 Apr. in Thraliana (1942) I. 286 Lady Frances Burgoyne used to have me to play with her Children forever.
1849 Southern Lit. Messenger 15 603 She will be forever talking of her fortune; and pleasantly reminding you on occasion of a favorite purchase,—how lucky she had the means.
1875 T. Hill True Order Stud. 91 The children..are forever questioning concerning the great lumps of pudding stone.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 53/1 That American girl, Miss Lowndes, who gave herself such airs and was forever shoving herself into the limelight.
1956 G. Durrell Drunken Forest x. 193 Those knowledgeable sentimentalists who are forever telling me that it's cruel to lock up the poor wild creatures in little wooden boxes.
2013 New Yorker 1 Apr. 40/3 We were forever being ordered to take laps around the field.
c. colloquial (originally U.S.). For a very long time, esp. for a (seemingly) inordinate amount of time. Cf. sense B. 2.In origin a hyperbolic use of sense A. 1a (cf. e.g. quot. 1825 at sense A. 1a(a)).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adverb] > for a long time
longeOE
longOE
longlyOE
longsomelyOE
yorec1275
lastingly1372
longsa1450
for longa1530
in length1566
with the longest1636
stayingly1648
eternally1664
sometime1801
chronically1854
forever1861
somewhile1864
for the duration1916
long-term1947
secularly1971
1861 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 486 They will..Usher us into her splendid saloon: There we sit waiting and waiting forever.
1894 M. M. Dodge When Life is Young 54 See how full the stocking is! Mine would have been too small. I borrowed this for Santa Claus. It isn't fair you know, To make him wait forever for a little girl to grow.
1912 Amer. Jrnl. Insanity Apr. 619 While in a state of hypomania he was an interesting and incessant talker. Southey said, ‘He talked forever, and you wished to have him talk forever.’
1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) i. 13 It was only a little after three o'clock, but the party had been going on for ever.
1968 Poetry 113 93 My grandfather talked forever in a voice that wrapped me around with love that asked for nothing.
1989 C. S. Murray Crosstown Traffic vi. 129 In pop terms, the blues has been around forever.
2001 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 26 Feb. Does Betty end up with Armando.., or will she run off with the loyal nerd she has known forever?
2. To an infinite distance or extent; infinitely. Also in hyperbolic use: to an indefinitely great distance or extent.
ΚΠ
1810 J. Joyce Lett. Nat. & Exper. Philos. ii. 9 I draw two parallel lines..which will never meet or come nearer together, though extended for ever.
1842 U. Parke Lect. Philos. Numbers vi. 101 In changing ⅓ to an equivalent decimal, it becomes .3333 &c., forever.
1870 J. E. Cooke Hammer & Rapier vii. 176 Narrow roads wind on forever between melancholy masses of stunted and gnarled oak.
1910 J. R. Stafford When Cattle Kingdom Fell xx. 295 Turning swiftly away, he stepped out into the stage trail, which led westward and forever westward toward the plains.
1971 Prairie Schooner 45 315 Above me, in the gaps between the trees, the sky stretched forever.
2003 C. Asaro Skyfall 114 She was the tallest woman he had ever met, with legs that went on forever.
B. n.
1. Eternity, perpetuity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [noun]
echenessc825
everlastingnessa1425
eternity1587
aeviternity1596
eternness1606
eternal1622
aeon1647
aevum1660
forever1741
Ewigkeit1877
1741 J. Edwards Sinners in Hands of Angry God 21 When you look forward, you shall see a long Forever, a boundless Duration before you.
1766 S. Davies & T. Gibbons Serm. III. xxvii. 176 What is like to become of my soul through this long Forever?
1858 C. Kingsley Farewell 7 Make life, death, and that vast for-ever One grand sweet song.
1881 E. Coxon Basil Plant II. 232 This short for-ever of earth.
1925 Pittsburgh Courier 26 Sept. 5/5 Somewhere in God's great Forever, Dear mother, we shall meet with thee.
2010 E. Chayil Hush iv. 16 So much time has passed..does it pass in heaven also? Is there day and night and long years or is it just one long forever?
2. colloquial (originally U.S.). A very long time, esp. a (seemingly) inordinate amount of time. Also: unlimited time, plenty of time. Originally and chiefly in to take forever.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [noun] > long duration or lasting through time > a long time
seven daysOE
a while1297
dreichc1440
dreightc1450
yearsa1470
age1577
week1597
montha1616
patriarch's age1693
length1697
eternity1700
a month of Sundays1759
a week of Sundays1822
a week of Saturdays1831
dog's age1833
forever1833
while1836
aeon1880
donkey's years1916
light year1929
yonks1968
1833 Juvenile Misc. Sept. 47 You don't know what a dull study it is..there are so many hard names, and it takes forever to learn how to analyse a flower.
1879 Churchman 22 Feb. 221/3 Baby always takes forever to go to sleep.
1911 Forum Aug. 154 But we've got to get there... Haven't got forever, you know.
1921 Sat. Evening Post 19 Mar. 57/1 We've got forever to sleep.
1966 J. Aiken Trouble with Product X vii. 138 They [sc. traffic lights] always take for ever to change.
1993 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 25 Sept. b4/1 I haven't seen cocaine around backstage in forever.
1994 Today's Parent Oct. 111/3 My five-year-old dawdles constantly. She's her class slowpoke. Whenever she's asked to tidy up, brush her teeth, or get ready for school, it takes forever.
2002 A. Phillips Prague iv. vii. 324 Your little house is nice and I want it, but I don't have forever to do this, there are another dozen and a half I want.
C. adj. (attributive).
That continues for ever, perpetual; that lasts as long as one's life, or for the foreseeable future.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [adjective]
echec825
echelichc825
endlessc888
lastinga1225
everlastingc1225
perdurablec1275
perpetuala1325
unendeda1325
incorruptiblea1340
ay-lastingc1340
inlastingc1340
eternec1366
interminablec1374
unstanchablec1374
ever-duringa1382
eternalc1386
sempitern1390
never-failinga1400
sempiternal14..
ever-being?a1425
ever-durable?a1425
immarcescible?a1475
perennal?c1500
deathless1547
everlastable1548
incessant1557
unperishing1561
undeterminable1581
evera1586
unendlya1586
inexterminable1592
never-ending?1592
aeviternal1596
dateless1597
undecaying1599
entombless1601
perishless1605
ageless1609
continual1610
perpetuous1612
imperible1614
ne'er-endinga1616
out-date1623
undated1624
perennious1628
immortal1630
imperishable1648
birthless1651
fadeless1652
sempiternous1653
evergreen1655
intemporal1656
indefectible1659
inconclusible1660
unending1661
aeonian1664
unfading1665
sempervirent1668
amaranthal1674
ne'er-dying1693
perennial1717
timeless1742
indefeatablea1754
amaranthine1782
aeonial1800
unterminating1821
unevanescent1827
ay1845
forever1879
sempervirid1909
the world > life > source or principle of life > [adjective] > course or span of life > for duration of a lifetime
lifelong1613
livelong1788
forever1879
womb-to-tomb1947
lifetime1962
1879 Friend 7 June 338/1 He..would sign himself, ‘Your most humble servant, and to be your future and forever friend in the spiritual world.’
1903 A. M. Sholl Law of Life xliii. 423 You are our forever friend?
1910 Christian Sci. Jrnl. Mar. 734 Heaven, his forever home.
1974 J. Haldeman (title) The Forever War.
2005 Santa Fean Dec. 54 To present moving professional portraits of adoptable kids with the goal of helping fulfill their most deeply held dream, that of a ‘forever home’.
Phrases
P1. With emphatic extension.
a. Chiefly poetic. forever and ay (also †o): for all future time; = sense A. 1a. Now archaic.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6218 Þis folk..þat suld vs serue for euer and ai.
a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) l. 4046 We wylle..ben ȝowre seruaundys for euer & hoo.
a1500 (c1400) Vision of Tundale (Adv.) (1843) l. 1488 To that same peyn schuld Y have goo And dwellyd ther in for euer and oo.
1650 Proper New Ballad Gallant Grahames (single sheet) Who from their Friends fled far aback, unto their Enemies for ever and ay.
1785 Humming Bird (ed. 3) 80/2 He vows that he'll love me for ever and aye.
1849 M. Arnold Forsaken Merman 43 Where great whales come sailing by, Sail and sail, with unshut eye, Round the world for ever and aye?
1986 S. Penman Here be Dragons (1991) (U.K. ed.) i. xxxv. 506 ‘God damn him’ he said savagely, ‘damn him forever and aye!’
b. forever and a day: for all future time; for a very long time; = senses A. 1a, A. 1c. [Perhaps a folk-etymological alteration of forever and ay at Phrases 1a.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > for all future time or in perpetuity
evermoeeOE
evermorec1225
foreverc1275
for (also unto) evermore1348
for everlastinga1382
forever and a day1533
1533 T. Paynell tr. U. von Hutten De Morbo Gallico xi. f. 25v Let them bede farewell for euer and a daye [L. longum] to these, that go about to restore vs from diseases with theyr disputations.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. v. 23 Farewell for euer and a day.
1630 G. Hakewill Apologie (ed. 2) i. iii. 34 The Clowne waits till the foord be slidden all away, but still it slides, and will for euer and a day.
1823 T. Carlyle Let. 28 Sept. (1886) II. 225 One youth was to go to Germany, the other to Oxford, and I to take my leave I supposed for ever and a day.
1859 Female Skeptic iii. 35 Kept me waiting forever and a day!
1920 School 18 Mar. 282/3 They will be waiting forever and a day for dead men's shoes.
1967 Listener 18 May 656/3 How else can one explain why the Second Reform Bill of 1867 did not sweep the Conservatives from power for ever and a day?
1997 J. Kadi in S. Raffo Queerly Classed 35 Lies about backward, unenlightened poor people have been around for ever and a day.
2003 S. Brown Free Gift Inside! 104 Diamonds became a totemic keepsake.., something special that is given, prized, and kept for ever and a day.
P2. With emphatic repetition.
a. forever and ever: for all future time; for a very long time; = sense A. 1a, A. 1c. Also with further repetition, as forever and ever and ever.
ΚΠ
1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 Tim. i. f. cclxxv So then vnto god, kynge everlastynge, immortall, invisible, and wyse only, be honoure and prayse for ever and ever.
1627 J. Donne Serm. Lady Danuers 166 New Heauens, and new Earth, for euer, and euer, and euer, and infinite, and super-infinite euers.
1738 A. Mears Bk. Relig., Ceremonies & Prayers of Jews 121 Be king over us for ever and ever.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Maud x. iv, in Maud & Other Poems 38 A man with heart, head, hand, Like some of the simple great ones gone For ever and ever by.
1861 H. Mayhew Young Benjamin Franklin (1862) xiii. 157 Those in adversity, who wait for prosperity to give them the means of laying up a fund for future ease, may wait forever and ever.
1925 G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man ii. ii. 216 The morality of most moralists, ancient and modern, has been one solid and polished cataract of platitudes flowing for ever and ever.
2001 W. Ferguson Happiness (2003) xxii. 130 What if it just keeps on going, forever and ever and ever?
b. forever and forever: for all future time; = sense A. 1a. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1578 J. Keltridge Expos., & Readynges 21 To whom belongeth glory for euer and for euer.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) v. i. 117 Therefore our euerlasting farewell take: For euer, and for euer, farewell Cassius.
1712 A. Pope Rape of Locke i, in Misc. Poems 362 One fatal stroke the sacred Hair does sever From the fair Head, for ever, and for ever!
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Poems (1851) I. 121 Pitiful post-diluvians! from whose hearts The print of passions by the tide of hours Is washed away for ever and for ever.
1969 G. Friel Grace & Miss Partridge xi. 163 This day I'm sending her on a better message than she ever went before. Forever and forever. Today's the day she'll go away.
c. humorous. forever and ever, amen: for all future time; = sense A. 1a. [After the concluding formula in prayers, especially the doxology following the Lord's Prayer in e.g. the Book of Common Prayer.]
ΚΠ
1930 ‘H. Z. Smith’ Not so Quiet iv. 94 The heroes you will sentimentalise over until peace is declared, and allow to starve for ever and ever, amen, afterwards.
1996 J. T. Hospital Oyster (1997) 320 And so on, and so on, for ever and ever amen in Bernie's pub, non-stop through the cold war period.
2000 J. Pemberton Forever & Ever Amen xxiii. 134 They would've gone on dancing the South American way forever and ever amen if they'd had coconut and palm trees.
Compounds
forever wild adj. U.S. designating an article in a constitution or similar provision that requires a state to preserve a particular area of wild land in perpetuity; (also) designating an area of land protected by this.Originally and chiefly with reference to the constitution of the state of New York, which provides for the Adirondack and Catskill Parks within its Forest Preserve. The constitution does not use the exact term (see quot. 1894).
ΚΠ
1894 Constit. State N.Y. Article vii. §7 187 The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.]
1937 Outdoor Amer. Jan. 16/2 At its annual convention last October, the New York division went on record for maintaining the ‘forever wild’ provision in the New York state constitution.
1952 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 24 Jan. 4/2 Statewide controversy over the ‘forever wild’ policy of the state preserve will be discussed by Central New York and other professional foresters.
1973 Daily Kennebec Jrnl. (Augusta, Maine) 28 Apr. 5/2 The Pack Forest, an area [of the Adirondacks] set aside by separate gift from the huge ‘forever wild’ tract that covers the northeastern corner of the state.
2008 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 27 Dec. b1 We think that having a forever-wild forest will be a great comparison to a managed forest.
Derivatives
forˈeverness n.
ΚΠ
1812 S. T. Coleridge Let. 18 Feb. (1959) III. 370 The seriousness, the equability, the for-ever-ness of the conjugal affection.
1920 E. L. Benedict Pract. Psychol. vi. 266 Don't let the thought of the ‘forever-ness’ enter your mind. Stand up to it one day at a time.
1969 D. F. Costello Prairie World (1975) viii. 145 The bleak foreverness of the landscape, given a few weeks of life-renewing heat, suddenly teems with growing things and becomes a living world.
2007 C. Daniels Ghettonation v. 124 To him the permanency of marriage, the foreverness, made it scary.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.n.adj.c1275