1. Lasting for ever; infinite in future duration; endless; = ETERNAL A. 3.
1340. Ayenb., 189. Guoþ ye acorsede in-to þe greate uere eurelestinde ine helle.
1509. Paternoster, Ave, & Creed, A iij. I trowe in ye … forgyuenes of synnes agen rysynge of flesshe, and euerlastynge lyf.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, IV. 5145. Thay depart from cair and cummer … Tyll Ioy and euirlestand lyfe.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. iii. 22. Some … that goe the Primrose way to th’ euerlasting Bonfire.
a. 1668. Denham, Poems & Transl. (1684), 155 (J.).
| And what a trifle is a moments Breath, | |
| Laid in the Scale with everlasting Death? |
1758. S. Hayward, Serm., i. 2. We are in danger of falling into everlasting misery.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 41. Too busy … to wait On the sad theme, their everlasting state.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. v. I would all the gold of earth were sunk into the everlasting pit.
1878. Morley, Carlyle, Crit. Misc. Ser. I. 185. Here is the Everlasting Yea.
b. Extended to the full sense of the L. æternus, so as to imply past as well as future eternity; = ETERNAL A. 1. (In the examples following this sense is merely contextual; but cf. from everlasting in B. 1.)
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxi. 33. Abraham … inwardli clepide … the name of euerlastynge God.
1535. Coverdale, ibid. And Abraham … called vpon the name of the Lorde ye euerlastinge God.
1578. Gude & Godlie Ball. (1868), 127. Thow onlie Maker of all thing, Thou euerlastand licht.
1611. Bible, Isa. ix. 6. The mightie God, The euerlasting Father.
2. Used hyperbolically or in relative sense. Cf. ETERNAL 4.
1382. Wyclif, Ezek. xxxv. 9. I shall bytake thee into wildernessis euerlastynge [solitudines sempiternas].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 9569. Ye worship might haue, With a lose euerlastond, when your lyff endis.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 84. To make their Rewards, everlasting in ther Heyrs.
c. 1532. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1019. To … Henry … kyng … of all Englande … be laude everlastyng, honour without ende.
1628. Hobbes, Thucyd., 13. And it [this History] is compiled rather for an EVERLASTING POSSESSION, then to be rehearsed for a Prize.
1734. Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 284. See Cromwell, damn’d to everlasting fame!
1832. Lytton, Eugene A., I. x. The rivulet … descends from the everlasting mountains.
1839. De Quincey, Recoll. Lakes, Wks. 1862, II. 217. These mighty gates of everlasting rock.
1873. Slang Dict., s.v., The barefooted children about Seven Dials … are said to wear everlasting shoes and stockings. Everlasting staircase, the treadmill.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, I. iii. 79–80. It is the most everlasting kind of beauty, is it not?
b. Constant, perpetual, unceasing. Often implying weariness or disgust: Interminable, endlessly recurring: = ETERNAL A. 4 b.
1688. S. Penton, Guardian’s Instr., 27–8. What … were the Occasions of the present great Contempt of Matrimony.… The everlasting Din of Mother-in-law.
1716. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. vi. 19. The foundation of these everlasting disputes turns entirely upon rank.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 269. It is never dark here, you are now come to the country of everlasting day.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, V. xxii. From Ait’s bitumen-lakes … ascends That everlasting roar.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, vii. 87. There was an everlasting boiling, of the kettle in the morning, the potatoes for dinner, and the kettle again in the afternoon.
1837. Lytton, E. Maltravers, I. 5. On which there hung an everlasting frown.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. i. I. § 38. 35. The tedious descriptions of spring, and the everlasting nightingale.
3. Indefinitely durable, that will ‘never’ wear out (see B. 3). Everlasting trimming: an embroidered edging for underclothing.
1590–1607. [see B. 3].
1882. Daily News, 4 March. The demand is fully maintained for everlasting trimmings.
Mod. I can recommend this material; it’s everlasting wear.
4. In various plant-names: a. Retaining shape and color when dried; as in Everlasting Flower, a name given to some species of Cudweed (Gnaphalium), but more commonly to various species of Helichrysum; cf. Fr. immortelle; † Everlasting Life: ‘American Cudweed’ (Antennaria margaritacea). b. Perennial; as in Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius and other species), † Everlasting Grass (Onobrychis sativa, Sainfoin).
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 153–4. Commonly called Sainct-foin, or Everlasting-grass.
1689. Tate, trans. Cowley’s Hist. Plants, IV. 91 (J.). Witness the everlasting Pease and Scarlet Bean.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), II. 391. The everlasting-flower … when it is plucked it cannot be perceived to fade.
1783. Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), I. s.v., Life everlasting, Gnaphalium Americanum.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 200. The yellow meadow vetchling, or everlasting pea.
1877. M. Arnold, Poems, Heine’s Grave. Crisp everlasting-flowers, Yellow and black, on the graves.
1882. Garden, 25 March, 202/2. The Everlasting Flowers … are all beautiful border plants.
5. quasi-adv. EVERLASTINGLY 2 and 4. † a. throughout eternity (obs.). b. U.S. slang. Very, exceedingly, excessively.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 67. Some of hem contynued in euyll … and now they be euerlasting dampde.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., x. (1851), 228. This everlasting talkative Advocate of the King.
18[?]. ‘Maj. Jack Downing,’ May Day in N. York (in Bartlett, Dict. Amer.). New York is an everlasting great concern.
B. absol. (quasi-sb.) and sb.
1. absol. a. In phrases For everlasting: for all future time, in perpetuity. To everlasting: to all eternity. b. Subsequently with extension as in A. 1 b: From everlasting: from all eternity.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 4188 (Fairf.). Þai wille him lede in-to fer lande to be þair bonde for euer-lastande.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xcii [xciii]. 2. From that tyme forth hath thy seate bene prepared, thou art from euerlastinge.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1666), 219 (J.). We are in God, through … the love which is born towards us from everlasting.
1611. Bible, Ps. xc. 2. Euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art God.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. i. (1841), I. 19. You will learn that God is from the beginning, and to the end, from everlasting to everlasting.
1719. Watts, Ps. xc. From everlasting thou art God To endless years the same.
1828. K. Digby, Broadst. Hon. (1846), II. Tancredus, 6. It [chivalry] is now enlisted in the cause of truth and goodness … to reign for everlasting.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, x. 317. Love and beauty have belonged to men from everlasting.
2. The Everlasting: God, the Eternal.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. viii. 23. Of the euere lastende [? mistranslation of ab æterno] I am ordeyned … er the erthe shulde be maad [1388 Fro with out bigynnyng; 1611 from euerlasting].
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 131. Oh … that the Euerlasting had not fixt His Cannon ’gainst Selfe-slaughter.
3. sb. a. A material used in 16–17th c. for the dress of sergeants and catchpoles, app. identical with DURANCE. b. In later times, a strong twilled woollen stuff, called also LASTING: see quots.
The word in quots. 1590 and 1607 may possibly be adj.; the former app. identifies the material of the ‘everlasting garment’ with buff, but it is not clear whether this means buff leather or some woollen substitute for it.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., IV. ii. 33. Adr. Where is thy Master Dromio? Is he well? S. Dro. … A diuell in an euerlasting garment hath him … a fellow all in buffe.
1607. Fletcher, Woman Hater, IV. ii. Were’t not for my smooth, soft, silken citizen, I would quit this transitory trade, get me an everlasting robe, sear up my conscience, and turn sergeant.
1822–35. D. Booth, Analyt. Eng. Dict., I. 184. Lasting, or everlasting, is a stout closely-woven worsted stuff, dyed black and other colours, and very much used for ladies’ shoes.
1837. Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), I. ii. 32. They [pantaloons] must have been made of the stuff called ‘everlasting.’
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Jerry Jarvis’ Wig. A well-worn … jacket, of a stuff by drapers most pseudonymously termed ‘everlasting.’
4. = Everlasting Flower. See A. 4.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxvi. 387. There are several species both of yellow and white Everlastings.
1864. J. Gilbert & G. C. Churchill, Dolomite Mts., 350. His hat was ornamented with yellow everlastings.
1871. E. B. Ramsay, Remin. (ed. 18), 17. Wreaths of ‘everlasting’ placed over graves as emblems of immortality.
