Obs. exc. arch. (poet.) Also 6–9 etern, 7–9 ætern(e. [a. OF. eterne, ad. L. ætern-us, for æviternus, f. ævum age.]
1. = ETERNAL a.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A. B. C., 56. To stink eterne he wol my gost exyle. Ibid. (c. 1374), Boeth., V. vi. 171. Þe comune iugement of alle creatures resonables than is þis þat god is eterne.
1413. Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, V. ix. (1483), 100. By the kynge eterne the raunson fully shalle be payd for man.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., cvii. The effectis of my bemes schene Has thaire aspectis by ordynance eterne.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron., CXV. xi. Saynt Edmonde … dyed, and made his fare To blysse eterne.
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), K vij b. Other thynges I fynd in the said annales worthie of etern memorie.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. ii. 38. Macb. Banquo and his Fleans liues. Lady. But in them, Natures Coppie’s not eterne.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. lii. Straight he to higher pearch, like bird in cage, Did skip, and sang of etern Destiny.
1683. E. Hooker, Pref. Ep. Pordage’s Mystic Div., 101. An Ætern Beeing of Beeings.
1773. J. Ross, Fratricide (MS.), VI. 281. On him shall fall Retaliation sevenfold and eterne.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, I. 117. Open thine eyes eterne.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, III. 754. An individualism of the Infinite, Eterne, intense, profuse.
1877. M. Arnold, Balder Dead, 89. The prophetesses, who by rite eterne On Frea’s hearth feed high the sacred fire.
2. absol. † a. In phrase fro eterne (= L. ab æterno), from eternity (obs.). b. The eterne: that which is eternal. c. The Eterne: the Eternal, God.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. ii. 153. Þe deuyne purueaunce … þat alle þinges byholdeþ and seeþ fro eterne.
14[?]. Circumcision, in Tundale’s Vis. (1843), 91. The name of names sacryd from eterne.
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. O thou Eterne! by whom all beings move.
1839–48. Bailey, Festus, Proem (ed. 3), p. vi. And in the vast conditions of the eterne The possible, the probable.
† 3. quasi-adv. Obs.
c. 1590. Howers Blessed Virg., 97. I verily think and beleeve surely, That my Redeemer is eterne on live.
