For ever

Ever Ev"eradv. [OE. ever, [ae]fre, AS. [ae]fre; perh. akin to AS. [=a] always. Cf. {Aye}, {Age},{Evry}, {Never}.] [Sometimes contracted into {e'er}.] 1. At any time; at any period or point of time. [1913 Webster]

No man ever yet hated his own flesh. --Eph. v. 29. [1913 Webster]

2. At all times; through all time; always; forever. [1913 Webster]

He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by scorn and cruelty. --Dryder. [1913 Webster]

3. Without cessation; continually. [1913 Webster]

Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of enforcement. ``His the old man e'er a son?'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]

To produce as much as ever they can. --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster]

{Ever and anon}, now and then; often. See under {Anon}.

{Ever is one}, continually; constantly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

{Ever so}, in whatever degree; to whatever extent; -- used to intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated adjective or adverb. See {Never so}, under {Never}. ``Let him be ever so rich.'' --Emerson. [1913 Webster]

And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only this, if God has placed him wrong. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

You spend ever so much money in entertaining your equals and betters. --Thackeray.

{For ever}, eternally. See {Forever}.

{For ever and a day}, emphatically forever. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

She [Fortune] soon wheeled away, with scornful laughter, out of sight for ever and day. --Prof. Wilson.

{Or ever} (for or ere), before. See {Or}, {ere}. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Note: Ever is sometimes joined to its adjective by a hyphen, but in most cases the hyphen is needless; as, ever memorable, ever watchful, ever burning. [1913 Webster]