whenever, adv., conj.
(hwɛnˈɛvə(r))
(In early use as two words.) Also poet. whene'er (hwɛnˈɛə(r)).
[f. when + ever (see below).]
I. As relative adverb or conjunction: cf. when 4.
1. [ever adv. 8 e.] At any time when; every time that, as often as. In a qualifying (conditional) clause, the meaning becomes: At whatever time, no matter when. Also with the idea of time weakened or lost (cf. when 8): In any or every case in which. Also as adv. with loss of relative force: at whatever time (colloq.).
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 354 As þe popis clerkis feynen þat þei done miraclis whanne evere þei syngen, moo and more woundirful þan ever dide Crist or his apostlis. c 1440 Generydes 1245 Ser, on to hir loggyng, When euer it please yow, I shall be your gyde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. Prol. 2 Whanne euer he takith vpon him for to..correpte his Cristen neiȝbour. 1509 Reg. Privy Seal Scot. I. 293/2 Landis..that sall happin to cum in the Kingis hands..throu the said Henrys deceis quhenevir it sall happin. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 15 When euer you haue need, You may be armed and appointed well. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 771 His doom is fair, That dust I am, and shall to dust returne: O welcom hour whenever! 1678 Yng. Man's Call. p. xiv, So might you welcom your death with pleasant smiles when ere it comes. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxx, You may, at a minute's warning, send them over England whenever your honour thinks fit. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes ix, Whenever an Englishman would cry ‘All right!’ an American cries ‘Go ahead!’ 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §25 Roguery and lying..are instantly to be flogged out of the way whenever discovered. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xiv, She still had access to the Emperor whenever she desired. 1917 H. James Ivory Tower in Amer. Novels iii. v. 221, I said to myself..three weeks ago, or whenever, that it wasn't for that I was going to come over. 1921 Oxford Mag. 28 Jan. 163/1 When the official story..is published, whenever that may be, minor details..will require correction. 1982 J. D. MacDonald Cinnamon Skin xi. 107 Maybe we can leave it that you can come over to Lauderdale when⁓ever. |
2. [ever 8 c.] At the very time or moment when; as soon as. (Now only in Sc. and Irish use.)
| 1655 tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion viii. 7 He gave me a good supper last night when ever I came within his doors. 1800 Monthly Mag. IX. 323/2 We will go to our dinner whenever the clock strikes two. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 589 One-third of the mixture is introduced at first; whenever this is melted, the second third is thrown in. 1875 A. Wilson Abode of Snow xxxviii. 360 And whenever my tent was set up I went to sleep in spite of the wind. |
II. 3. As interrogative adverb, an emphatic extension of when. (Properly two words, and usually so written: see ever 8 d.) Now colloq.
| 1713 Addison Cato i. i, When-e're did Juba, or did Portius, show A Virtue that has cast me at a Distance? Mod. When ever I did I say that? I waited and waited, and wondered when ever he would come. |