Perpetual

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Perpetual \Per*pet"u*al\, a. [OE. perpetuel, F. perp['e]tuel,
     fr. L. perpetualis, fr. perpetuus continuing throughout,
     continuous, fr. perpes, -etis, lasting throughout.]
     Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time;
     unfailing; everlasting; continuous.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.     --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Perpetual feast of nectared sweets.      --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Circle of perpetual apparition}, or {Circle of perpetual
     occultation}. See under {Circle}.
  
     {Perpetual calendar}, a calendar so devised that it may be
        adjusted for any month or year.
  
     {Perpetual curacy} (Ch. of Eng.), a curacy in which all the
        tithes are appropriated, and no vicarage is endowed.
        --Blackstone.
  
     {Perpetual motion}. See under {Motion}.
  
     {Perpetual screw}. See {Endless screw}, under {Screw}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Continual; unceasing; endless; everlasting; incessant;
          constant; eternal. See {Constant}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Tax \Tax\, n. [F. taxe, fr. taxer to tax, L. taxare to touch,
     sharply, to feel, handle, to censure, value, estimate, fr.
     tangere, tactum, to touch. See {Tangent}, and cf. {Task},
     {Taste}.]
     1. A charge, especially a pecuniary burden which is imposed
        by authority. Specifically: 
        [1913 Webster]
        (a) A charge or burden laid upon persons or property for
            the support of a government.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  A farmer of taxes is, of all creditors,
                  proverbially the most rapacious.  --Macaulay.
            [1913 Webster]
        (b) Especially, the sum laid upon specific things, as upon
            polls, lands, houses, income, etc.; as, a land tax; a
            window tax; a tax on carriages, and the like.
  
     Note: Taxes are {annual} or {perpetual}, {direct} or
           {indirect}, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
        (c) A sum imposed or levied upon the members of a society
            to defray its expenses.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A task exacted from one who is under control; a
        contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed
        upon a subject.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge; as, a heavy
        tax on time or health.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Charge; censure. [Obs.] --Clarendon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A lesson to be learned; a task. [Obs.] --Johnson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Tax cart}, a spring cart subject to a low tax. [Eng.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Impost; tribute; contribution; duty; toll; rate;
          assessment; exaction; custom; demand.
          [1913 Webster]
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  perpetual
       adj 1: continuing forever or indefinitely; "the ageless themes of
              love and revenge"; "eternal truths"; "life
              everlasting"; "hell's perpetual fires"; "the unending
              bliss of heaven" [syn: {ageless}, {eternal}, {everlasting},
               {unending}, {unceasing}]
       2: uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing; "the
          ceaseless thunder of surf"; "in constant pain"; "night and
          day we live with the incessant noise of the city"; "the
          never-ending search for happiness"; "the perpetual
          struggle to maintain standards in a democracy"; "man's
          unceasing warfare with drought and isolation";
          "unremitting demands of hunger" [syn: {ceaseless}, {constant},
           {incessant}, {never-ending}, {unceasing}, {unremitting}]
       3: occurring so frequently as to seem ceaseless or
          uninterrupted; "a child's incessant questions"; "your
          perpetual (or continual) complaints" [syn: {incessant}, {endless}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  184 Moby Thesaurus words for "perpetual":
     abiding, age-long, aged, ageless, all-comprehensive, all-inclusive,
     all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-wise, almighty, ancient,
     antique, boundless, ceaseless, changeless, chattering, chronic,
     coeternal, constant, continual, continuing, continuous, countless,
     creating, creative, dateless, diuturnal, durable, endless,
     enduring, eternal, eternally the same, eterne, ever-being,
     ever-durable, ever-during, evergreen, everlasting, everliving,
     exhaustless, extending everywhere, firm, fixed, frozen, glorious,
     good, hallowed, hardy, highest, holy, illimitable, illimited,
     immeasurable, immemorial, immense, immobile, immortal, immutable,
     incalculable, incessant, incomprehensible, indestructible,
     inexhaustible, infinite, infinitely continuous, innumerable,
     intact, interminable, interminate, intransient, invariable,
     inveterate, inviolate, just, lasting, limitless, long-lasting,
     long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous, loving,
     luminous, machine gun, macrobiotic, majestic, making, measureless,
     merciful, never-ceasing, never-ending, no end of, nonstop,
     nonterminating, nonterminous, numinous, of long duration,
     of long standing, olamic, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, one,
     oscillating, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent,
     persistent, persisting, pulsating, quiescent, radiant, rapid,
     recurrent, regular, remaining, repeated, repetitive, rigid, sacred,
     sempervirent, sempiternal, shaping, shoreless, solid, sovereign,
     stable, staccato, static, stationary, staying, steadfast, steady,
     stuttering, sumless, supreme, sustained, termless, timeless,
     torpid, tough, ubiquitous, unaltered, unbounded, unbroken,
     unceasing, unchangeable, unchanged, unchanging, unchecked,
     uncircumscribed, undefined, undestroyed, undeviating, unending,
     unfading, unfailing, unfathomable, unintermitted, unintermittent,
     unintermitting, uninterrupted, universal, unlimited, unmeasurable,
     unmeasured, unnumbered, unplumbed, unremitting, unshifting,
     unstopped, untold, unvaried, unvarying, vibrating, vital,
     without bound, without end, without limit, without measure,
     without number
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PERPETUAL. That which is to last without limitation as to time; as, a 
  perpetual statute, which is one without limit as to time, although not 
  expressed to be so.