nevermore, adv. (n.)
Also α. 3 nauere mare, 4–5 neuer-mar, 4–6 -mare, 6 -mair. β. 3–4 neuer(e)-mor, etc.
[f. never adv. + more adv.]
A. adv. Never again, at no future time.
| α c 1205 Lay. 26845 Ne scalt þu nauere mare þi lif þenne lede. Ibid. 32236 Næuere seoððen mære kinges neoren here. a 1300 Cursor M. 484 He ne has merci neuer-mare. Ibid. 10055 Þe welle o grace..þat fines neuermar to rin. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 166 The tothir..swar That he suld have it neuir-mar. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 1374 Forsuth þe lewe sall I neuirmare. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 222, I saw hir nevir mare. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 15 They salbe saif, and neuer mair shall dee. |
| β c 1220 Bestiary 618 Ðoȝ he ðre hundred ȝer..wuneden her, bigeten he neuermor non. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1240 Wende ȝhe it coueren neuere mor. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 570 in Ritson Metr. Rom. II. 294 Neuermore he nolde come..In the bed. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 203 This sorghfull king was so bestad, That he schal nevermor be glad. ? 1507 Comunyc. (W. de W.) c iij, And than to lyue and neuermore dye. 1581 Rich Farew. (1846) 208, I will never more contende with thee duryng life. 1634 Milton Comus 559 Silence..wish't she might..be never more Still to be so displac't. 1671 ― P.R. iv. 610 He never more henceforth will dare set foot In Paradise. a 1859 De Quincey Posth. Wks. (1891) I. 261 Nevermore will it be excited by mere court intrigue. 1871–74 J. Thomson City Dreadf. Nt. xvi. vii, This chance recurreth never, nevermore. |
B. as
n.| 1951 Koestler Age of Longing ii. v. 257 The evermore of desire and the nevermore of satiety. 1952 R. Campbell tr. Baudelaire's Poems 50 It's by such charms the Never-more Intoxicates us in the Now. |