Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#EVERLASTING ever-lasting (“(adjective) eternal, perpetual; constant; (adverb) eternally; (noun) eternity”),^[1] from ever (“at all times, always, constantly; eternally, perpetually; regularly; etc.”)^[2] + lasting (“continuing, lasting; eternal; etc.”).^[3]

• Ever is derived from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Old English#EVERLASTING ǣfre (“ever”),^[4] possibly from ā (“always, ever”) + in fēore (“in life”). Ā is from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTING *aiw (“eternity; long time”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTING *aiwaz (“long time; eternity”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTING *h₂ey- (“life, vital force; long time; eternity”); and fēore is the dative singular of feorh (“life”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTING *ferh (“life; kind of tree”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTING *ferhwą (“body; life; tree”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTING *perkʷ- (“oak tree”) (as the oak represented life and vitality in Germanic mythology).
• Lasting is derived from lasten (“to continue, last; etc.”)^[5] + -ing (suffix forming present participle forms of verbs, often used as adjectives));^[6] and lasten from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Old English#EVERLASTING lǣstan (“to follow, pursue; to carry out, perform”),^[7] from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#EVERLASTING *laistijan (“to follow, pursue; to carry out, perform”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#EVERLASTING *laistijaną (“to follow, pursue”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#EVERLASTING *leys- (“to trace, track”).

By surface analysis, ever (adverb) +‎ lasting (adjective)Category:English compound terms#EVERLASTING.^[8]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛvəˈlɑːstɪŋ/, /-ˈlæst-/Category:English 4-syllable words#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#EVERLASTING
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɛvəɹˈlæstɪŋ/Category:English 4-syllable words#EVERLASTINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#EVERLASTING

• Audio (General American):

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  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#EVERLASTING

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  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#EVERLASTING
• Rhymes: -ɑːstɪŋ, -æstɪŋCategory:Rhymes:English/ɑːstɪŋ#EVERLASTINGCategory:Rhymes:English/ɑːstɪŋ/4 syllables#EVERLASTINGCategory:Rhymes:English/æstɪŋ#EVERLASTINGCategory:Rhymes:English/æstɪŋ/4 syllables#EVERLASTING
• Hyphenation: ever‧last‧ing

Adjective

everlasting (comparative more everlasting, superlative most everlasting)Category:English lemmas#EVERLASTINGCategory:English adjectives#EVERLASTINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with entries#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#EVERLASTING

2. Lasting or enduring forever; endless, eternal.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 128, column 1:

     And vvhether vve ſhall meete againe, I knovv not: / Therefore our euerlaſting farevvell take: / For euer, and for euer, farevvell, Caſſius, / If vve do meete againe, vvhy vve ſhall ſmile; / If not, vvhy then this parting vvas vvell made.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 17:8, signature B2, recto, column 2:

     And I will giue vnto thee, and to thy ſeed after thee, the land wherein thou art a ſtranger, all the land of Canaan, for an euerlaſting poſſeſſion, and I will be their God.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1649, Richard Baxter, “An Example of this Heavenly Contemplation, for the Help of the Unskilful”, in The Saints Everlasting Rest: Or, A Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in Their Enjoyment of God in Glory. […], London: […] Rob[ert] White, for Thomas Underhil and Francis Tyton, […], →OCLC, part IV (Containing a Directory for the Getting and Keeping of the Heart in Heaven: […]), section 2, page 807:

     VVhy, in Heaven I ſhall have an everlaſting Holyday of Pleaſure.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1668, John Denham, “Of Prudence”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: […] [John Macock] for H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 155:

     And vvhat a trifle is a moments Breath, / Laid in the Scale vvith everlaſting Death?

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 45:

     I muſt venture: To go back is nothing but death, to go forvvard is fear of death, and life everlaſting beyond it. I vvill yet go forvvard.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1782, William Cowper, “The Progress of Error”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 65:

     Philoſophers, vvho darken and put out / Eternal truth by everlaſting doubt, […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Genesis”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 58:

     [A]rt thou hidden by those far thicker curtains of the Everlasting night, or rather of the Everlasting Day, though which my mortal eye and outstretched arms need not strive to reach?

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “Ambition Distorted into Vice by Law”, in “Leila; or, The Siege of Granada”, in Leila; or, The Siege of Granada: And Calderon, the Courtier. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans; Paris: Delloy and Co., →OCLC, book I, page 37:

     I would all the gold of earth were sunk into the everlasting pit! It is this mean, and miserable, and loathsome leprosy of avarice, that gnaws away from our whole race the heart, the soul, nay, the very form, of man!

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1978, John Updike, chapter II, in The Coup, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 76:

     His soul has gone to everlasting fire!

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   1. Chiefly of a deity or other supernatural being: having always existed and will continue to exist forever; eternal.
      • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Genesis xxj:[33–34], folio ix, recto, column 2:

        And Abraham planted trees at Berſeba, and called vpon the name of the LORDE yͤ euerlaſting God, and was a ſtraunger in yͤ londe of the Philiſtynes a longe ſeaſon.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 9:6, signature [Mmm4], verso, column 2:

        For vnto vs a child [Jesus] is borne, vnto vs a Sonne is giuen, and the gouernment ſhalbe vpon his ſhoulder: and his name ſhalbe called, Wonderfull, Counſeller, The mightie God, The euerlaſting Father, The Prince of peace.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1890, F[riedrich] E[douard] H[einrich] W[ulf] Krichauff, “The Customs, Religious Ceremonies, etc. of the ‘Aldolinga’ and ‘Mbenderinga’ Tribe of Aborigines in Krichauff Ranges, South Australia”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch, volume 2, Adelaide, S.A.: H. F. Leader, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35; quoted in Sam D. Gill, “Altjira”, in Storytracking: Texts, Stories, and Histories in Central Australia, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1998, →ISBN, page 87:

        All of them, the good supernatural beings, they call also 'altgiva,' [apparently an early rendering of "altjira"] as well as the firmament, with the sun, moon, and stars; also the earth, and any things specially remarkable. The word 'altgiva' signifies that these had an everlasting existence.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   2. (philosophyCategory:en:Philosophy#EVERLASTING) Synonym of sempiternal (“having infinite temporal duration, rather than outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether”).
3. (chiefly hyperbolicCategory:English hyperboles#EVERLASTING, informalCategory:English informal terms#EVERLASTING)
   1. Continuing for a long period; eternal.

      this everlasting nonsenseCategory:English terms with usage examples#EVERLASTING

      • 1629, Thucydides, “The First Booke”, in Thomas Hobbes, transl., Eight Bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre […], London: […] Hen[ry] Seile, […], →OCLC, page 13:

        And it [this History] is compiled rather for an Everlasting Possession, then to be rehearſed for a Prize.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle IV, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 75, lines 277–280:

        [T]hink hovv [Francis] Bacon ſhin'd, / The vviſeſt, brighteſt, meaneſt of Mankind: / Or raviſh'd vvith the vvhiſtling of a Name, / See [Oliver] Cromvvell, damn'd to everlaſting Fame!

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1742, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Fourth”, in The New Dunciad: As is^[sic] It was Found in the Year 1741. […], Dublin: […] George Faulkner, →OCLC, pages 31–32, lines 331–334:

        [S]he mark'd thee there, / Stretch'd on the rack of a too-eaſy Chair; / And heard thy everlaſting yavvn confeſs / The Pains and penalties of Idleneſs.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1832, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter X, in Eugene Aram. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 162:

        [T]he rivulet that swells it [a river], descends from the everlasting mountains, or is formed by the rains of Heaven.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Counterplot”, in “Calderon, the Courtier: A Tale”, in Leila; or, The Siege of Granada: And Calderon, the Courtier. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans; Paris: Delloy and Co., →OCLC, book, page 377:

        I am Juan de la Nuza, the father of the young officer whose life you saved in the assault of the Moriscos, in Valentia, and I owe you an everlasting gratitude.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1839 July, Thomas De Quincey, “William Wordsworth and Robert Southey”, in Autobiographic Sketches: With Recollections of the Lakes (De Quincey’s Works; II), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 325:

        [T]he wind rushing through these mighty gates of everlasting rock— […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1882, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “In Society”, in Mount Royal […], volume I, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, pages 156–157:

        [W]e must all die—'tis an inevitable chance—the first Statute in Magna Charta—it is an everlasting act of Parliament […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   2. Happening all the time, especially to a tiresome extent; constant, incessant, unending.
      • 1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], →OCLC, page 99:

        It is never dark here, you are novv come to the Country of Everlaſting Day; VVhat think you? Is not this Eliſium?

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1761 February 12 (first performance), George Colman, The Jealous Wife: A Comedy. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […]; T. Becket, and Company, […]; T[homas] Davies, […]; W. Jackson, […]; and A[lexander] Kincaid, and Company, […], published 1761, →OCLC, Act II, scene [ii], page 37:

        I'll diſpatch Them as ſoon as I can, but Heaven knovvs vvhen I ſhall get rid of Them, for They are both everlaſting Goſſips; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1801, Robert Southey, “The Fifth Book”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume I, London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 313:

        There from a cave with torrent force, / And everlasting roar, / The black bitumen rolled.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1837, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in Ernest Maltravers […] , volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 5:

        His countenance was prematurely marked by deep furrows, and his grizzled hair waved over a low, rugged, and forbidding brow, on which there hung an everlasting frown that no smile from the lips (and the man smiled often) could chase away.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “On the General State of Literature in the Middle Ages to the End of the Fourteenth Century”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 38, pages 46–47:

        The French poetry, on the other hand, was deficient in strength and ardour. It was also too much filled with monotonous common-places; among which the tedious descriptions of spring, and the everlasting nightingale, are eminently to be reckoned.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   3. Of clothing or fabric: lasting a long time; very durable or hard-wearing.
      • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 94, column 1:

        Adr[iana]. VVhere is thy Maſter Dromio? Is he vvell? / S. Dro. [Dromio of Syracuse] No, he's in Tartar limbo, vvorſe than hell: / A diuell in an euerlaſting garment hath him; / On vvhoſe hard heart is button'd vp vvith ſteele: / A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe: / A VVolfe, nay vvorſe, a fellovv all in buffe: […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1606 (date written), [Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher], The Woman Hater. […], London: […] [Robert Raworth], and are to be sold by John Hodgets […], published 1607, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, signature G2, verso:

        [W]ere't not for my ſmooth, ſoft, ſilken Citizen, I vvould quit this tranſitorie trade, get mee an euerlaſting robe, ſeare vp my conſcience, and turne Serieant.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   4. (botanyCategory:en:Botany#EVERLASTING) Chiefly in the name of a plant:
      1. Having flowers that retain their colour and form when dried.
      2. Of a plant or plant part: synonym of perennial (“active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons”).
         • 1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of Water Betony⸝ or Broune-wurte”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Sundry Sortes of Herbes and Plantes), page 44:

           The roote is threddy, like the roote of the ſecond kinde of Scrophularia, and is euer[-]laſting, putting forth yearely new ſprings, as alſo doth the rootes of the other two Scrophularies.

           Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

         • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Smaller Orpins”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 417:

           [T]he ſtalkes and leaues of this [Telephium sempervirum or virens] indure alſo the ſharpneſſe of vvinter, and therefore vve may call it in Engliſh Orpin euerlaſting, or neuer dying Orpin.

           Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

         • 1640, John Parkinson, “Lathyrus. The Great Wilde Cicheling or Pease Everlasting.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, →OCLC, page 1062:

           Lathyrus ſylveſtris flore luteo. Tare everlaſting. This ramping vvilde Vetch or Tare as the country people call it, becauſe it is the moſt pernicious herbe that can grovv on the earth, for corne or any other good herbe that it ſhall grovv by, killing and ſtrangling them: […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   5. (USCategory:American English#EVERLASTING, regionalCategory:Regional English#EVERLASTING, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#EVERLASTING) Used as an intensifier.
      • 1848, [James Russell Lowell], “No. II. A Letter from Mr. Hosea Biglow to the Hon. J. T. Buckingham, Editor of the Boston Courier, Covering a Letter from Mr. B. Sawin, Private in the Massachusetts Regiment.”, in Homer Wilbur [pseudonym], editor, Melibœus-Hipponax. The Biglow Papers, […], Cambridge, Mass.: George Nichols, →OCLC, page 18:

        The everlastin’ cus he stuck his one-pronged pitchfork in me / An’ made a hole right thru my close ez ef I wuz an in’my.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1896, Stephen Crane, chapter I, in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 8:

        "Come home now," he cried, "an' stop yet jawin', er I'll lam the everlasting head off yehs."

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

Adverb

everlasting (comparative more everlasting, superlative most everlasting)Category:English lemmas#EVERLASTINGCategory:English adverbs#EVERLASTINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with entries#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#EVERLASTING

1. Synonym of everlastingly.
   1. (chiefly USCategory:American English#EVERLASTING, regionalCategory:Regional English#EVERLASTING, informalCategory:English informal terms#EVERLASTING, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#EVERLASTING) Used as an intensifier: extremely, very.
      • 1903 October, Kate Douglas Wiggin, “The Hill Difficulty”, in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 246:

        […] Miranda’s impression, conveyed in privacy to Jane, was that Hannah was close as the bark of a tree, and consid’able selfish too; that when she’d clim’ as fur as she could in the world, she’d kick the ladder out from under her, everlastin’ quick; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 248–249:

        The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on 'em.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   2. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#EVERLASTING) In an everlasting (adjective sense 1) manner; forever.
      • 1692, John Milton, chapter X, in [Joseph Washington], transl., A Defence of the People of England, […]: In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King, [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 220:

        You your ſelves in the opinion of this everlaſting talkative Advocate of the King, your accuſer, vvent more than half-vvay tovvards it; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

Noun

everlasting (countable and uncountable, plural everlastings)Category:English lemmas#EVERLASTINGCategory:English nouns#EVERLASTINGCategory:English uncountable nouns#EVERLASTINGCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTINGCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with entries#EVERLASTINGCategory:Pages with 1 entry#EVERLASTING

2. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTING, botanyCategory:en:Botany#EVERLASTING) Chiefly with a descriptive word: short for everlasting flower (“any of several plants, chiefly of the family Asteraceae (principally the tribe Gnaphalieae), having flowers that retain their colour and form when dried; also, a flower of such a plant”)Category:English short forms#EVERLASTING
   • 1633, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], Thomas Johnson, “Of Golden Floure-gentle”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], enlarged edition, London: […] Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, →OCLC, book II, page 645:

     This yellovv Euerlaſting or Floure-Gentle, called of the later Herbariſts Yellovv Strœcas, is a plant that hath ſtalkes of a ſpan long, […] The floures ſtand on the tops of the ſtalks, […] of a bright yellovv colour; vvhich being gathered before they be ripe, do keep their colour and beauty a long time vvithout vvithering, […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1942, Emily Carr, “The Orange Lily”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC; republished as The Book of Small (eBook; 0400201.txt), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, February 2004:

     With a backward look Small said, “What a lovely lily!” / “Well enough but strong-smelling, gaudy. Come see the everlastings.”

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1974 (date written), G[erald] B[asil] Edwards, chapter 7, in The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Moyer Bell, published 1981, →ISBN, page 313:

     'I am rather past looking like a flower, I am afraid,' she said. 'I can't see that,' I said. 'It is true perhaps it is too late now for you to look like a rose; but you can always look like an everlasting.' I really meant it for a compliment, and to put her in a good mood; but, woman-like, she took it the wrong way.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 128:

     Take then mugwort and everlasting and boil these three in several kinds of milk until they become red.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

3. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTING, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#EVERLASTING) Preceded by the: someone or something that lasts forever, or that that has always existed and will continue to exist forever; an eternal, an immortal; specifically (ChristianityCategory:en:Christianity#EVERLASTING), God.
   • 1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., Philippe de Mornay], “That the Wisdome of the World hath Acknowledged One Onely God”, in Philip Sidney, Arthur Golding, transl., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, […], London: […] [John Charlewood and] George Robinson for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 42:

     [T]he people of Thebais in Ægipt, reiected all the ſaid abſurdities of many Goddes, ſaying that there was none other God but only he whom they called Cnef [Kneph?], which was neuer borne, nor could euer dye, that is to ſay the Euerlaſting.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], signature C, recto:

     O that this too too sallied fleſh vvould melt, / Thavv and reſolue it ſelfe into a devve, / Or that the euerlaſting had not fixt / His cannon gainſt ſeale ſlaughter, ô God, God,

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Tombs of Kôr”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 183:

     Reverently I replaced the grave-cloths, and, with a sigh that flowers so fair should, in the purpose of the Everlasting, have only bloomed to be gathered to the grave, I turned to the body on the opposite shelf, and gently unveiled it.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

4. (clothingCategory:en:Clothing#EVERLASTING, footwearCategory:en:Footwear#EVERLASTING, historicalCategory:English terms with historical senses#EVERLASTING)
   1. Synonym of lasting (“(uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#EVERLASTING) a durable, plain, woven fabric formerly used for making clothes and for the uppers of women's shoes; (countableCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTING) a quantity of such fabric”).
      • 1837 March 6, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Sunday at Home”, in Twice-Told Tales, Boston, Mass.: American Stationers Co.; John B. Russell, →OCLC, page 33:

        There is a young man, a third-rate coxcomb, whose first care is always to flourish a white handkerchief, and brush the seat of a tight pair of black silk pantaloons, which shine as if varnished. They must have been made of the stuff called ‘everlasting,’ or perhaps of the same piece as Christian’s garments, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, for he put them on two summers ago, and has not yet worn the gloss off.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

      • 1985, Eric Kerridge, “Jerseys”, in Textile Manufactures in Early Modern England, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 64:

        These everlastings, which were relatively new inventions, were finely woven, close set satins or broken twills with double or treble warps and single wefts, and were often figured or brocaded, those with bold flowers being known as Amens, signifying manufacture in the fashion of Amiens. Everlastings of one kind or another were used to make gaiters, shoe tops and liveries for sergeants and catchpoles.

        Category:English terms with quotations#EVERLASTING

   2. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#EVERLASTING) Short for everlasting trimming (“(uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#EVERLASTING) an embroidered edging used on underclothes; (countableCategory:English countable nouns#EVERLASTING) a quantity of such edging”)Category:English short forms#EVERLASTING

References

Further reading

• everlasting (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “everlasting”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.