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English Dictionary: instant by the DICT Development Group
4 results for instant
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
instant
adj
  1. occurring with no delay; "relief was instantaneous"; "instant gratification"
    Synonym(s): instantaneous, instant(a)
  2. in or of the present month; "your letter of the 10th inst"
    Synonym(s): instant, inst
  3. demanding attention; "clamant needs"; "a crying need"; "regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken; "insistent hunger"; "an instant need"
    Synonym(s): clamant, crying, exigent, insistent, instant
n
  1. a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash"
    Synonym(s): blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, New York minute
  2. a particular point in time; "the moment he arrived the party began"
    Synonym(s): moment, minute, second, instant
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Instant \In"stant\, adv.
      Instantly. [Poetic]
  
               Instant he flew with hospitable haste.   --Pope.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Instant \In"stant\, n. [F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by,
      being near, present. See {Instant}, a.]
      1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short
            to be estimated; also, any particular moment.
  
                     There is scarce an instant between their flourishing
                     and their not being.                           --Hooker.
  
      2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth
            instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the
            sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See
            {Instant}, a., 3.
  
      Syn: Moment; flash; second.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Instant \In"stant\, a. [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to
      stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand:
      cf. F. in[?]tant. See {Stand}.]
      1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest.
  
                     Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;
                     continuing instant in prayer.            --Rom. xii.
                                                                              12.
  
                     I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of
                     occupation.                                       --Carlyle.
  
      2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not
            deferred; immediate; without delay.
  
                     Impending death is thine, and instant doom. --Prior.
  
      3. Present; current.
  
                     The instant time is always the fittest time.
                                                                              --Fuller.
  
      Note: The word in this sense is now used only in dates, to
               indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July
               instant.
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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