WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Nev"er
Part of Speech : adv.
Etymology : [AS. n; ne not, no + ever.]
Definition : 1. Not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future. Shak. Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. Pope.

2. In no degree; not in the least; not. Whosoever has a friend to guide him, may carry his eyes in another man's head, and yet see never the worse. South. And he answered him to never a word. Matt. xxvii. 14.

Note: Never is much used in composition with present participles to form adjectives, as in never-ceasing, never-dying, never-ending, never-fading, never-failing, etc., retaining its usual signification. Never a deal, not a bit. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Never so, as never before; more than at any other time, or in any other circumstances; especially; particularly; -- now often expressed or replaced by ever so. Ask me never so much dower and gift. Gen. xxxiv. 12. A fear of battery, ... though never so well grounded, is no duress. Blackstone.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913