English Dictionary: ever so | by the DICT Development Group |
3 results for ever so | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Never \Nev"er\, adv. [AS. n[?]fre; ne not, no + [?]fre ever.] 1. Not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future. --Shak. Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. --Pope. 2. In no degree; not in the least; not. Whosoever has a friend to guide him, may carry his eyes in another man's head, and yet see never the worse. --South. And he answered him to never a word. --Matt. xxvii. 14. Note: Never is much used in composition with present participles to form adjectives, as in never-ceasing, never-dying, never-ending, never-fading, never-failing, etc., retaining its usual signification. {Never a deal}, not a bit. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {Never so}, as never before; more than at any other time, or in any other circumstances; especially; particularly; -- now often expressed or replaced by {ever so}. Ask me never so much dower and gift. --Gen. xxxiv. 12. A fear of battery, . . . though never so well grounded, is no duress. --Blackstone. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Ever \Ev"er\adv. [OE. ever, [91]fre, AS. [91]fre; perh. akin to AS. [be] always. Cf. {Aye}, {Age},{Evry}, {Never}.] [Sometimes contracted into {e'er}.] 1. At any time; at any period or point of time. No man ever yet hated his own flesh. --Eph. v. 29. 2. At all times; through all time; always; forever. He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by scorn and cruelty. --Dryder. 3. Without cessation; continually. Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of enforcement. [bd]His the old man e'er a son?[b8] --Shak. To produce as much as ever they can. --M. Arnold. {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}. [bd]Let him be ever so rich.[b8] --Emerson. And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only this, if God has placed him wrong. --Pope. 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. 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] Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio! --Shak. 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. |