catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Now \Now\ (nou), adv. [OE. nou, nu, AS. n[=u], nu; akin to D.,
     OS., & OHG. nu, G. nu, nun, Icel., n[=u], Dan., Sw., & Goth.
     nu, L. nunc, Gr. ny`, ny^n, Skr. nu, n[=u]. [root]193. Cf.
     New.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. At the present time; at this moment; at the time of
        speaking; instantly; as, I will write now.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who
              discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
                                                    --Arbuthnot.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Very lately; not long ago.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They that but now, for honor and for plate,
              Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.
                                                    --Waller.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or
        contemplated; at a particular time referred to.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The ship was now in the midst of the sea. --Matt.
                                                    xiv. 24.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. In present circumstances; things being as they are; --
        hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an
        inference or an explanation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite
              and a man of honor?                   --L'Estrange.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is? --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but
              Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. --John xviii.
                                                    40.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The other great and undoing mischief which befalls
              men is, by their being misrepresented. Now, by
              calling evil good, a man is misrepresented to others
              in the way of slander.                --South.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Now and again, now and then; occasionally.
  
     Now and now, again and again; repeatedly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
  
     Now and then, at one time and another; indefinitely;
        occasionally; not often; at intervals. ``A mead here,
        there a heath, and now and then a wood.'' --Drayton.
  
     Now now, at this very instant; precisely now. [Obs.] ``Why,
        even now now, at holding up of this finger, and before the
        turning down of this.'' --J. Webster (1607).
  
     Now . . . now, alternately; at one time . . . at another
        time. ``Now high, now low, now master up, now miss.''
        --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]

  Now \Now\, adv. [OE. nou, nu, AS. n[=u], nu; akin to D., OS., &
     OHG. nu, G. nu, nun, Icel., n[=u], Dan., Sw., & Goth. nu, L.
     nunc, Gr. ?, ?, Skr. nu, n[=u]. [root]193. Cf. New.]
     1. At the present time; at this moment; at the time of
        speaking; instantly; as, I will write now.
  
              I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who
              discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
                                                    --Arbuthnot.
  
     2. Very lately; not long ago.
  
              They that but now, for honor and for plate, Made the
              sea blush with blood, resign their hate. --Waller.
  
     3. At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or
        contemplated; at a particular time referred to.
  
              The ship was now in the midst of the sea. --Matt.
                                                    xiv. 24.
  
     4. In present circumstances; things being as they are; --
        hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an
        inference or an explanation.
  
              How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite
              and a man of honor ?                  --L'Estrange.
  
              Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is ? --Shak.
  
              Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but
              Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. --John xviii.
                                                    40.
  
              The other great and undoing mischief which befalls
              men is, by their being misrepresented. Now, by
              calling evil good, a man is misrepresented to others
              in the way of slander.                --South.
  
     Now and again, now and then; occasionally.
  
     Now and now, again and again; repeatedly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
  
     Now and then, at one time and another; indefinitely;
        occasionally; not often; at intervals. ``A mead here,
        there a heath, and now and then a wood.'' --Drayton.
  
     Now now, at this very instant; precisely now. [Obs.] ``Why,
        even now now, at holding up of this finger, and before the
        turning down of this.'' --J. Webster (1607).
  
     Now . . . now, alternately; at one time . . . at another
        time. ``Now high, now low, now master up, now miss.''
        --Pope.