adv., conj. (In early use as two words.) Also poet. whene’er. [f. WHEN + EVER (see below).]
I. As relative adverb or conjunction: cf. WHEN 4.
1. [EVER adv. 8 e.] At any time when; every time that, as often as. In a qualifying (conditional) clause, the meaning becomes: At whatever time, no matter when. Also with the idea of time weakened or lost (cf. WHEN 8): In any or every case in which.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 354. As þe popis clerkis feynen þat þei done miraclis whanne evere þei syngen, moo and more woundirful þan ever dide Crist or his apostlis.
c. 1440. Generydes, 1245. Ser, on to hir loggyng, When euer it please yow, I shall be your gyde.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., Prol. 2. Whanne euer he takith vpon him for to … correpte his Cristen neiȝbour.
1509. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., I. 293/2. Landis … that sall happin to cum in the Kingis hands … throu the said Henrys deceis quhenevir it sall happin.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. ii. 15. When euer you haue need, You may be armed and appointed well.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 771. His doom is fair, That dust I am, and shall to dust returne: O welcom hour whenever!
1678. Yng. Man’s Call., p. xiv. So might you welcom your death with pleasant smiles when ere it comes.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar W., xxx. You may, at a minute’s warning, send them over England whenever your honour thinks fit.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, ix. Whenever an Englishman would cry ‘All right!’ an American cries ‘Go ahead!’
1865. Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 25. Roguery and lying … are instantly to be flogged out of the way whenever discovered.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xiv. She still had access to the Emperor whenever she desired.
1921. Oxford Mag., 28 Jan., 163/1. When the official story … is published, whenever that may be, minor details … will require correction.
2. [EVER 8 c.] At the very time or moment when; as soon as. (Now only in Sc. and Irish use.)
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, VIII. 7. He gave me a good supper last night when ever I came within his doors.
1800. Monthly Mag., IX. 323/2. We will go to our dinner whenever the clock strikes two.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 589. One-third of the mixture is introduced at first; whenever this is melted, the second third is thrown in.
1875. A. Wilson, Abode of Snow, xxxviii. 360. And whenever my tent was set up I went to sleep in spite of the wind.
II. 3. As interrogative adverb, an emphatic extension of when. (Properly two words, and usually so written: see EVER 8 d.) Now colloq.
1713. Addison, Cato, I. i. When-e’re did Juba, or did Portius, show A Virtue that has cast me at a Distance?
Mod. When ever did I say that? I waited and waited, and wondered when ever he would come.
