Dictionary

eterne en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɪˈtɜːn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɪˈtɜɹn/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English eterne, from Old French eterne, from Latin aeternus.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Eternal.
   • And neuer did the Cyclops hammers fall / On Mars his Armours, forg'd for proofe Eterne, / With lesse remorse then Pyrrhus bleeding sword / Now falles on Priam. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
   • The substance is eterne, and bideth so; / Ne when the life decayes and forme does fade, / Doth it consume and into nothing goe [...]. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
   • Eterne, intense, profuse,—still throwing up The golden spray of multitudinous worlds In measure to the proclive weight and rush Of His inner nature […] 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Third Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

Forms