adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.]
1. Without end; for ever; throughout all future time. Also hyperbolically and in relative sense.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 4174. To be qwene of alle heven now and eure lastyngly.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 179. They … shall lyue euerlastyngly and neuer dye spiritually.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. ii. 207. Ile hate him euerlastingly That bids me be of comfort any more.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, I. § 34. 35. The favour which they primarily had with God is everlastingly confirmed.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. i. (1841), I. 12. He punishes them everlastingly in hell.
1719. Swift, Lett. to Young Clergym., Wks. 1751, V. 17 (J.). Many … have … made themselves everlastingly ridiculous.
1804. Wordsw., To the Supreme Being. The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind, That I may … sound thy praises everlastingly.
1865. Ellen C. Clayton, Cruel Fortune, III. 67. If you could lend me half a sov., I should be everlastingly obliged to you.
b. Through all past and future time, ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ † Also, Throughout all past time (obs.).
1587. Golding, De Mornay, vii. 105. Againe, haue they [the two Sexes] bin euerlastingly but two, or euerlastingly mo than two?
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. v. (1611), 11. God alone excepted, who actually and euerlastingly is whatsoeuer he may be.
1594. Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits (1616), 90. God was not made at anie time, in as much as he is euerlastinglie vnbegotten.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 428. His [God’s] ways are everlasting, ordered everlastingly, existing everlastingly in the Divine Mind.
2. With perpetual recurrence; continually, constantly, incessantly; = ETERNALLY 3.
1826. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 104. They are everlastingly railing against the working people.
1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., 526. The rights of property everlastingly put in dispute.
1870. Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, I. vi. 93. Everlastingly running up and down from town.
3. Beyond measure; immeasurably, excessively. (Common in U.S. slang.)
