everlasting

Everyday

1. Everlasting means lasting for ever, never ending. tree →
2. (informal) Everlasting can also mean going on far too long and boring: «his everlasting complaints». tree →
3. (church, Bible) In Christian prayers and the Bible, God and eternal life are called everlasting: «everlasting life». tree →
4. An everlasting (noun) is a flower that keeps its shape and colour when dried. tree →

In the lessons

In church, hymns and Bible lessons, «everlasting» often appears: «God is everlasting», «life everlasting»; Christians believe in everlasting life with God. In stories and fairy tales, there are everlasting gobstoppers, everlasting love or an everlasting winter. In everyday speech, people use it to complain about something that never stops. Phrases: «everlasting life», «everlasting love», «for ever and ever».

Examples

• Christians believe that God's love is everlasting. tree →
• The witch cast a spell of everlasting winter. tree →
• In the story, the sweet was an everlasting gobstopper. tree →
• I'm tired of my sister's everlasting questions! tree →
• The hymn spoke of life everlasting. tree →
• Nothing on Earth is truly everlasting. tree →
• Mum dried some everlastings for a vase. tree →
• But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut; for they are everlasting." tree →

Note

Built from «ever» + «lasting». Similar words: eternal, endless, permanent. In science, very little is truly everlasting: even mountains wear away and stars burn out.

In Jewish tradition

It means lasting for all time, said of God and of a covenant that does not end.

Interpretation. The Everlasting God is one of the names Abraham calls on, and the Sabbath showbread is called an everlasting covenant, a sign that the bond with Israel lasts.

Examples

• And for the tops of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, (Torah DEU.33.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. (Torah GEN.21.33, JPS 1917) tree →
• Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually; it is from the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. (Torah LEV.24.8, JPS 1917) tree →
• Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' (Prophets ISA.33.14, JPS 1917) tree →
• Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting. (Writings PSA.93.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth. (Writings PSA.119.142, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Built from «ever» + «lasting». Similar words: eternal, endless, permanent. In science, very little is truly everlasting: even mountains wear away and stars burn out.

Early Modern English

Meaning

lasting forever, without any end. tree →

Then and now

Today it still means never ending, but 'everlasting hills' and 'everlasting entity' mean eternal, a grander and older sense; 'everlasting pity' is the everyday exaggerated sense.

Examples

• And for the tops of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, (Torah DEU.33.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• Dear me! what an everlasting pity! (Tanglewood Tales) tree →
• 1) Our author maintains that there is a first intelligent, self-existing, almighty, eternal ruling cause of all things, and that an everlasting entity produced nonentities by a progression of effects. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →

Note

Today: endless, forever.