eternity
(iːˈtɜːnɪtɪ)
Forms: 4 eternite, 4–5 -yte(e, 6 -itie, 6–7 æternitie, -y, 6– eternity.
[ME. eternite, a. Fr. eternité, ad. L. æternitāt-em, f. æternus: see eterne. Cf. Pr. eternitat, Sp. eternidad, It. eternità.]
1. a. The quality, condition, or fact of being eternal (see the adj.); eternalness; eternal existence.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. vi. 171 God is eterne..lat vs considere þan what is eternite. 14.. Inholders in York Plays 515 Euer withoutyn ende With the to reyne in thyne eternyte. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys Introd. (Roxb.) 8 To magnyfye God in hys blysful eternyte. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India Pref. 8 Giving them knowledge of the eternitie, and holy trinitie in unitie. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iv. 25 He wants nothing of a god but Eternity. 1653 Walton Angler i. 15 God injoyes himself only by Contemplation of his Goodness, Eternity, Infiniteness and Power. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 246 There should always have been a preexisting Matter, to establish his Opinion concerning Eternity. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xvii. 125 An argument..to prove the eternity of the world. |
b. hyperbolically. Perpetual or indefinite continuance; esp. ‘immortality’ of fame.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 476 Thus maketh thai of thaire fertilitee In helping nature a feire eternytee. 1606 Holland Sueton. 208 A desire he had..of æternity and perpetuall fame. 1611 Coryat Crudities, Orat. in praise of travel, Hercules..purchased himselfe eternity of name. 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. i. i, Here are my Sonnes—There's my eternitie. My life in them And their succession shall for euer liue. 1726 Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 28 b, The Vine exceeds even the Eternity of Time itself. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xi. 277 That eternity is brief which hangs upon the sentiments of any multitude. |
c. as a title: cf. ‘Your Majesty, Grace’, etc.
| 1791 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1834) I. 264 Their [Eastern Emperors'] subjects address them by the titles of ‘Your Perpetuity, your Eternity.’ |
d. the eternities: (in vaguely concrete sense) things eternal; the eternal truths or realities. Frequent in Carlyle, and often cited (sometimes derisively) as characteristic of his style.
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. Wks. 1858 IX. 253 Truly, if a man cannot get some glimpse into the Eternities, looking through this portal,—through what other need he try it? 1878 Morley Carlyle 165 We begin with introspection and the eternities, and end in blood and iron. |
2. Infinite time. The total eternity, which has neither beginning nor end, may be regarded as divided by any moment into two eternities: the past eternity (in scholastic language æternitas a parte ante), and the future eternity (æternitas a parte post). Hence the applications of the word in this sense may be classed as follows: a. Absolute eternity, having neither beginning nor end.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 6 The eternitie hath not any thing either afore or after it. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 148 Those thoughts that wander through Eternity. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxiv. (1819) 396 Eternity is a negative idea, clothed with a positive name. 1856 Dove Logic Chr. Faith iii. 132 Infinite time is called eternity. |
b. The two ‘eternities’.
| 1656 Cowley Pindar Odes, The Muse Notes 25 There are two sorts of Eternity; from the Present backwards to Eternity, and from the Present forwards. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 119 The Ancient Atheists..did at once deny both Eternities to the World: Past and Future. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxii, The soul awakes..between two dim eternities—the eternal past, the eternal future. 1874 H. Reynolds John Bapt. ii. 63 The introduction of the first man into the world..was a dividing line between the eternities. |
c. The past eternity.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 148 ‘Natural’ are those which have been Lawes from all Eternity. 1812 Cogan Theol. Disq. i. i. (R.), A first cause; who, being uncaused, must exist from eternity. |
d. The future eternity; time without end.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. vii. 58 Þou wilt maken comparisoun to þe endeles space of eternite. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 556 Beyond [time] is all abyss, Eternitie, whose end no eye can reach. 1713 Addison Cato v. i, Eternity, thou pleasing, dreadful thought..Through what new scenes and changes must we pass! 1801 Southey Thalaba ix. xiv, They, with their Leader, through eternity, Must howl in central fires. 1827 Pollok Course of T. vi, Slowly numbers o'er The mighty cycles of eternity. |
3. Hyperbolical uses of 2: A space of time felt as ‘endless’; a term indefinitely remote.
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 239 Those Grey Kentish Bricks..will last to Eternity. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 90 With such absolute firmness as if it had been design'd for Eternity. 1813 Byron Giaour 272 Tho' in Time's record nearly nought, It was Eternity to thought. 1856 H. Miller Test Rocks ix. (1857) 354 A few more worlds..to which the destroying flood does not reach, save once or twice in an eternity or so. |
4. In expressed or implied contrast with time. a. In metaphysical sense (cf. eternal 1 b): Timelessness; existence with reference to which the relation of succession has no application.
| 1662 Hobbes Consid. (1680) 50 Eternity is a permanent Now. 1853 Maurice Theol. Essays (ed. 2) 450 Eternity, in relation to God, has nothing to do with time or duration. |
b. Opposed to ‘time’ in its restricted sense of duration measured by the succession of physical phenomena. Hence, the condition into which the soul enters at death; the future life. Also, eternal welfare.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 73 All that liues must dye, Passing through Nature to Eternity. a 1650 Crashaw Death Herrys, Weak time shall be pour'd out Into eternity. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. xciv, Most grave..Citizens, are put to it by a promissory Oath to stake their Eternities, and in effect to invocate God. 1785 Gentl. Mag. Aug. 658/2 Just as they were going to be launched into eternity. |
5. nonce-uses. Viewed imaginatively as an agent or a person.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. ix, I [Time] am the lode-starre to dame Eternitie. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. lxxi, It comes like an eternity, As if to sweep down all things in its track. |
6. In pl. (cf. 1 d, 2 b): Eternity viewed as consisting of ‘ages’.
| 1382 Wyclif Pref. Ep. Jerome iv. 64 Thoo that techen many men to rightwisnes [shulen shyne] as sterres into perpetuel eternytees [1388 euerlastyngnessis]. 1609 Bible (Douay) Dan. xii. 3 They that instruct many to justice [shal shine] as starres unto perpetual eternities. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh v. 566 Like a clock Which strikes the hours of the eternities. 1858 Sears Athan. iii. i. 256 To unfold through the ages, yea, through the eternities. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. I. 247 The throne of heaven is to them a lonely one. The solitude of the eternities weighs upon their imaginations. |
7. attrib., as eternity ring (see quots.).
| 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 449/1 Diamond and Platinum Eternity Ring from {pstlg}10 10 0. 1950 ‘P. Wentworth’ Eternity Ring iv. 30 ‘You know the kind of ring they call an eternity ring?’ She smiled. ‘An old fashion which has come back—a circle of small stones set continuously.’ 1960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 112/1 Eternity ring, a ring in the form of a plain circle symbolising eternity, often set with a single row of stones. |