Ever \Ev"er\adv. [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.

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. ``His the old man e'er a son?'' --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. ``Let him be ever so rich.'' --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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)