everlasting

Etymology

It is formed from English ever + lasting.^[2][3][4][5] Lasting is the present participle of last, lasten.^[4][3] Weekley regarded it as a Middle English coinage to render eternal,^[6] and the OED notes that its sense of past as well as future eternity follows Latin aeternus as used in post-classical texts.^[2] Early forms include ever-lestind.^[7] A verb everlast, to endure forever, is recorded from the late 14th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lasting forever, endless: about 1225, in the life of Saint Margaret, where Margaret goes to bliss "buten wa, euer-lestinde".^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

By 1340, in the Ayenbite, it could mean without beginning as well as end: "He is eurelestinde, wyþoute beginnynge and wyþ-oute ende".^[7][2] It was soon used loosely, for something lasting a very long time (about 1384) or constant and unceasing (before 1398).^[2] From 1761, in Colman's The Jealous Wife, it also carried a note of weariness: "they are both everlasting gossips".^[2][8] In 19th-century American speech it became an intensifier, "very, exceedingly", as an adjective from 1834 and as an adverb from 1836.^[2][8][3] As a noun, the Everlasting meant God from before 1382.^[2][4] Plants were called everlasting first in the sense "perennial" (1578), then for flowers that keep their shape and colour when dried (1761).^[2] From 1633 such a plant was itself called an everlasting.^[2] It was also applied to hard-wearing cloth and footwear (1607), and in the 18th century to a strong woven fabric.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as lasting without end, perpetual, immortal, eternal.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – lasting forever, endless.^[2][7]
• 1340 – without beginning or end.^[2][7]
• before 1382 – noun, the Everlasting, God.^[2]
• c. 1384 – lasting a very long time.^[2]
• before 1398 – constant, unceasing.^[2]
• 1578 – of a plant, perennial.^[2]
• 1633 – noun, an everlasting flower.^[2]
• 1761 – tiresomely endless.^[2][8]
• 1834 – American intensifier.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting forever; eternal: everlasting life.^[4][10][2]
2. Continuing for a very long time or indefinitely; perpetual: the everlasting ice of the high peaks.^[4][10][2]
3. Going on so long or so often as to be tiresome; incessant: the neighbours' everlasting hammering.^[10][2]
4. Of a plant, having flowers that keep their shape and colour when dried.^[2][4]

Noun

1. the Everlasting: God.^[4][2]
2. Eternity, chiefly in from everlasting.^[4][10]
3. An everlasting flower, also called an immortelle.^[4][10][2]

Word family

• everlastingly
• everlastingness

Related words

• ever
• lasting
• last

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins