1. at the gift 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 special
time referred to. "The
nave was
now in the midst of the sea." (Matt. Xiv. 24)
4. In gift 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 must he live,
now character bankrupt is ?" (Shak) "Then cried they all again, saying, Not
this man,
but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber." (John xviii. 40) "The another 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. Now and then,
at one time and other; indefinitely; occasionally; not often; at intervals. "A
mead here,
there a heath, and
now and then a wood." . Now now, at
this very instant; precisely now. "Why,
even now now, at holding up of
this finger, and
till the turning
down of this." . Now . . . Now, alternately;
at one time . . . At other time. "Now tall,
now low,
now master up,
now miss." .
Origin: OE. Nou, nu, AS. Nu, nu;
akin to D, OS, & OHG. Nu, G. Nu, nun, Icel, nu, Dan, Sw, & Goth. Nu, L. Nunc, Gr, Skr. Nu, nu. 193. Cf. New.
Source: Websters Vocabulary