#103. Fewness. -- N. fewness &c. adj.; paucity, small number; small quant.i.ty &c. 32; rarity; infrequency &c. 137; handful, maniple; minority; exiguity.
[Diminution of number] reduction; weeding &c. v.; elimination, sarculation, decimation; eradication.
V. be few &c. adj.
render few &c. adj.; reduce, diminish the number, weed, eliminate, cull, thin, decimate.
Adj. few; scant, scanty; thin, rare, scattered, thinly scattered, spotty, few and far between, exiguous; infrequent &c. 137; rari nantes[Latin]; hardly any, scarcely any; to be counted on one"s fingers; reduced &c. v.; unrepeated[obs3].
Adv. rarely, here and there.
#104. Repet.i.tion. -- N. repet.i.tion, iteration, reiteration, harping, recurrence, succession, run; battology, tautology; monotony, tautophony; rhythm &c. 138; diffuseness, pleonasm, redundancy.
chimes, repetend, echo, ritornello[obs3], burden of a song, refrain; rehearsal; rechauffe[Fr], rifacimento[It], recapitulation.
cuckoo &c. (imitation) 19; reverberation &c. 408; drumming &c. (roll) 407; renewal &c. (restoration) 660.
twice-told tale; old story, old song; second edition, new edition; reappearance, reproduction, recursion [Comp]; periodicity &c. 138.
V. repeat, iterate, reiterate, reproduce, echo, reecho, drum, harp upon, battologize[obs3], hammer, redouble.
recur, revert, return, reappear, recurse [Comp]; renew &c. (restore) 660.
rehea.r.s.e; do over again, say over again; ring the changes on; harp on the same string; din in the ear, drum in the ear; conjugate in all its moods tenses and inflexions[obs3], begin again, go over the same ground, go the same round, never hear the last of; resume, return to, recapitulate, reword.
Adj. repeated &c. v.; repet.i.tional[obs3], repet.i.tionary[obs3]; recurrent, recurring; ever recurring, thick coming; frequent, incessant; redundant, pleonastic.
monotonous, harping, iterative, recursive [Math, Comp], unvaried; mocking, chiming; retold; aforesaid, aforenamed[obs3]; above-mentioned, above-said; habitual &c. 613; another.
Adv. repeatedly, often, again, anew, over again, afresh, once more; ding-dong, ditto, encore, de novo, bis[obs3], da capo[It].
again and again; over and over, over and over again; recursively [Comp]; many times over; time and again, time after time; year after year; day by day &c.; many times, several times, a number of times; many a time, full many a time; frequently &c. 136.
Phr. ecce iterum Crispinus[Lat]; toujours perdrix[Fr]; "cut and come again" [Crabbe]; "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" [Macbeth]; cantilenam eandem canis [Lat][Terence]; nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius [Lat][Terence].
#105. Infinity. -- N. infinity, infinitude, infiniteness &c. adj.; perpetuity &c. 112; boundlessness.
V. be infinite &c. adj.; know no limits, have no limits, know no bounds, have no bounds; go on for ever.
Adj. infinite; immense; numberless, countless, sumless[obs3], measureless; innumerable, immeasurable, incalculable, illimitable, inexhaustible, interminable, unfathomable, unapproachable; exhaustless, indefinite; without number, without measure, without limit, without end; incomprehensible; limitless, endless, boundless, termless[obs3]; untold, unnumbered, unmeasured, unbounded, unlimited; illimited[obs3]; perpetual &c. 112.
Adv. infinitely &c. adj.; ad infinitum.
Phr. "as boundless as the sea" [Romeo and Juliet].
-- SECTION VI. TIME
1. ABSOLUTE TIME --
#106. Time. -- N. time, duration; period, term, stage, s.p.a.ce, span, spell, season; the whole time, the whole period; s.p.a.ce-time; course &c.
109; snap.
intermediate time, while, interim, interval, pendency[obs3]; intervention, intermission, intermittence, interregnum, interlude; respite.
era, epoch; time of life, age, year, date; decade &c. (period) 108; moment, &c. (instant) 113.
gla.s.s of time, sands of time, march of time, Father Time, ravages of time; arrow of time; river of time, whirligig of time, noiseless foot of time; scythe.
V. continue last endure, go on, remain, persist; intervene; elapse &c.
109; hold out.
take time, take up time, fill time, occupy time.
pa.s.s time, pa.s.s away time, spend time, while away time, consume time, talk against time; tide over; use time, employ time; seize an opportunity &c. 134; waste time &c. (be inactive) 683.
Adj. continuing &c. v.; on foot; permanent &c. (durable) 110.
Adv. while, whilst, during, pending; during the time, during the interval; in the course of, at that point, at that point in time; for the time being, day by day; in the time of, when; meantime, meanwhile; in the meantime, in the interim; ad interim, pendente lite[Lat]; de die in diem[Lat]; from day to day, from hour to hour &c.; hourly, always; for a time, for a season; till, until, up to, yet, as far as, by that time, so far, hereunto, heretofore, prior to this, up to this point.
the whole time, all the time; all along; throughout &c. (completely) 52; for good &c. (diuturnity)[obs3] 110.
hereupon, thereupon, whereupon; then; anno Domini; A.D.; ante Christum; A.C.; before Christ; B.C.; anno urbis conditae[Lat]; A.U.C.; anno regni[Lat]; A.R.; once upon a time, one fine morning, one fine day, one day, once.
Phr. time flies, tempus fugit [Lat.]; time runs out, time runs against, race against time, racing the clock, time marches on, time is of the essence, "time and tide wait for no man".
ad calendas Groecas[Lat]; "panting Time toileth after him in vain"
[Johnson]; ""gainst the tooth of time and razure of oblivion" [Measure for Measure]; "rich with the spoils of time" [Gray]; tempus edax rerum [Lat][Horace]; "the long hours come and go" [C.G. Rossetti]; "the time is out of joint" [Hamlet]; "Time rolls his ceaseless course" [Scott]; "Time the foe of man"s dominion" [Peac.o.c.k]; "time wasted is existence, used is life" [Young]; truditur dies die [Lat][Horace]; volat hora per orbem [Lat][Lucretius]; carpe diem[Lat].
#107. Neverness. -- N. "neverness"; absence of time, no time; dies non; Tib"s eve; Greek Kalends, a blue moon.
Adv. never, ne"er[contr]; at no time, at no period; on the second Tuesday of the week, when h.e.l.l freezes over; on no occasion, never in all one"s born days, nevermore, sine die; in no degree.
#108. [Definite duration, or portion of time.] Period. -- N. period, age, era; second, minute, hour, day, week, month, quarter, year, decade, decenniumm l.u.s.trum[obs3], quinquennium, lifetime, generation; epoch, ghurry[obs3], lunation[obs3], moon.
century, millennium; annus magnus[Lat].
Adj. horary[obs3]; hourly, annual &c. (periodical) 138.
#108a. Contingent Duration.-- Adv. during pleasure, during good behavior; quamdiu se bene gesserit[Latin].
#109. [Indefinite duration.] Course. -- N. corridors of time, sweep of time, vesta of time[obs3], course of time, progress of time, process of time, succession of time, lapse of time, flow of time, flux of time, stream of time, tract of time, current of time, tide of time, march of time, step of time, flight of time; duration &c. 106.
[Indefinite time] aorist[obs3].
V. elapse, lapse, flow, run, proceed, advance, pa.s.s; roll on, wear on, press on; flit, fly, slip, slide, glide; run its course.
run out, expire; go by, pa.s.s by; be -past &c. 122.
Adj. elapsing &c. v.; aoristic[obs3]; progressive.
Adv. in due time, in due season; in in due course, in due process, in the fullness of time; in time.
Phr. labitur et labetur [Lat][Horace]; truditur dies die [Lat][Horace]; fugaces labuntur anni [Lat][Horace]; "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day" [Macbeth].
#110. [Long duration.] Diuturnity. -- N. diuturnity[obs3]; a long time, a length of time; an age, a century, an eternity; slowness &c. 275; perpetuity &c. 112; blue moon, c.o.o.n"s age [U.S.], dog"s age.
durableness, durability; persistence, endlessness, lastingness &c.
adj[obs3].; continuance, standing; permanence &c. (stability) 150 survival, survivance[obs3]; longevity &c. (age) 128; distance of time.
protraction of time, prolongation of time, extension of time; delay &c. (lateness) 133.
V. last, endure, stand, remain, abide, continue, brave a thousand years.
tarry &c. (be late) 133; drag on, drag its slow length along, drag a lengthening chain; protract, prolong; spin out, eke out, draw out, lengthen out; temporize; gain time, make time, talk against time.
outlast, outlive; survive; live to fight again.
Adj. durable; lasting &c. v.; of long duration, of long-standing; permanent, endless, chronic, long-standing; intransient[obs3], intransitive; intrans.m.u.table[obs3], persistent; lifelong, livelong; longeval[obs3], long-lived, macrobiotic, diuturnal[obs3], evergreen, perennial; sempervirent[obs3], sempervirid[obs3]; unrelenting, unintermitting[obs3], unremitting; perpetual &c. 112.
lingering, protracted, prolonged, spun out &c. v. long-pending, long- winded; slow &c. 275.
Adv. long; for a long time, for an age, for ages, for ever so long, for many a long day; long ago &c. (in a past time) 122; longo intervallo[It].
all the day long, all the year round; the livelong day, as the day is long, morning noon and night; hour after hour, day after day, &c.; for good; permanently &c. adj.
#111. [Short duration.] Transientness. -- N. transience, transientness &c. adj[obs3].; evanescence, impermanence, fugacity[Chem], caducity[obs3], mortality, span; nine days" wonder, bubble, Mayfly; spurt; flash in the pan; temporary arrangement, interregnum.
velocity &c. 274; suddenness &c. 113; changeableness &c. 149.
transient, transient boarder, transient guest [U.S.].
V. be transient &c. adj.; flit, pa.s.s away, fly, gallop, vanish, fade, evaporate; pa.s.s away like a cloud, pa.s.s away like a summer cloud, pa.s.s away like a shadow, pa.s.s away like a dream.
Adj. transient, transitory, transitive; pa.s.sing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral; flying &c. v.; fugacious, fugitive; shifting, slippery; spasmodic; instantaneous, momentaneous[obs3].
temporal, temporary; provisional, provisory; deciduous; perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure; impermanent.
brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary; pressed for time &c.
(haste) 684; sudden, momentary &c. (instantaneous) 113.
Adv. temporarily &c. adj.; pro tempore[Lat]; for the moment, for a time; awhile, en pa.s.sant[Fr], in transitu[Lat]; in a short time; soon &c.
(early) 132; briefly &c. adj.; at short notice; on the point of, on the eve of; in articulo; between cup and lip.
Phr. one"s days are numbered; the time is up; here today and gone tomorrow; non semper erit aestas[Lat][obs3]; eheu! fugaces labuntur anni[Lat]; sic transit gloria mundi[Lat]; a schoolboy"s tale, the wonder of the hour! [Byron]; dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas[Lat][obs3]; fugit hora[Lat]; all that is transitory is but an illusion [Goethe].
#112. [Endless duration.] Perpetuity. -- N. perpetuity, eternity, everness[obs3], aye, sempiternity[obs3], immortality, athanasia[obs3]; interminability[obs3], agelessness[obs3], everlastingness &c. adj.; perpetuation; continued existence, uninterrupted existence; perennity[obs3]; permanence (durability) 110.
V. last forever, endure forever, go on forever; have no end.
eternize, perpetuate.
Adj. perpetual, eternal; everduring[obs3], everlasting, ever-living, ever-flowing; continual, sempiternal[obs3]; coeternal; endless, unending; ceaseless, incessant, uninterrupted, indesinent[obs3], unceasing; endless, unending, interminable, having no end; unfading[obs3], evergreen, amaranthine; neverending[obs3], never-dying, never-fading; deathless, immortal, undying, imperishable.
Adv. perpetually &c. adj.; always, ever, evermore, aye; for ever, for aye, till the end of the universe, forevermore, forever and a day, for ever and ever; in all ages, from age to age; without end; world without end, time without end; in secula seculorum[Lat]; to the end of time, to the crack of doom, to the "last syllable of recorded time" [Macbeth]; till doomsday; constantly &c. (very frequently) 136.