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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)