now
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /nɒ/
ipa: /naʊ/
ipa: /naʊ/
note: Dublin
ipa: /næʊ/
note: Dublin
ipa: /nɛʊ/
ipa: /nuː/
rhymes: -aʊ
homophone: nao
Forms: form: nowe
Etymology: From Middle English now, nou, nu, from Old English nū, from Proto-West Germanic *nū, from Proto-Germanic *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nū (“now”). Doublet of nu ("well?").
Cognates
Cognate with Scots noo, nou, now (“now”), Yola neow, now, nowe (“now”), North Frisian nü (“now”), Saterland Frisian nu (“now”), West Frisian no (“now”), Dutch nu, nou (“now”), German nu, nun (“now”), Limburgish noe, Nuu (“now”), Danish, Swedish nu (“now”), Elfdalian nų (“now”), Faroese nú, núgv (“now”), Icelandic nú, núna (“now”), Norwegian Bokmål nu, nå (“now”), Norwegian Nynorsk no, nu, nå (“now”), Gothic 𐌽𐌿 (nu, “now”), Latin num (“even now, whether”), Latin nunc (“now”), Albanian ni (“now”), Lithuanian nù (“now”), Avestan 𐬥𐬏 (nū, “now”), Sanskrit नु (nu, “now”).
Senses: examples: text: Now I am six.
text: Stop that now, Jimmy!
text: I could have been Secretary of State now if I hadn’t left politics five years ago.
text: We can’t phone now – they will certaintly have gone to bed.
glosses: At the present time.
examples: text: Now, we all want what is best for our children.
text: Now, Jimmy, stop that.
text: Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 43:
text: “I don’t stare at her,” Steve insisted quickly. “It’s just that every once in a while she is looking at me when I look out the window.” / “A peeping Thomasina.” / “Now, Harry.” / “Well, it’s her name. Elizabeth Thomas.”
ref: 1949, Isabella Taves, “That Unpredictable Look”, in The American Magazine, volume CXLVII, Springfield, Oh.: The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38:
glosses: Used to introduce a point, a qualification of what has previously been said, a remonstration or a rebuke.
examples: text: Now I am ready.
text: We all now want the latest toys for our children.
text: We all want what is now best for our children.
text: Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.
examples: text: Now he remembered why he had come.
text: He now asked her whether she had made pudding.
text: The pudding was now ready to be served.
glosses: At the time reached within a narration.
examples: text: Now listen, we must do something about this.
glosses: Used to indicate a context of urgency.
examples: text: I always used to do my shopping now, to avoid the rush.
glosses: At the present point of a recurring cycle or event.
examples: text: They that but now, for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.
ref: c. 1656, Edmund Waller, Of a War with Spain, and Fight for Sea:
glosses: Very recently; not long ago; up to the present.
raw_tags: as but now
examples: text: Now, you want to protect me. An hour ago, you were mercilessly bullying me!
qualifier: usually emphasized
glosses: Used to address a switching side, or sharp change in attitude from before.
examples: text: His face fit his roles: now smiling, now earnest, now glowering, now raging.
text: And then they stood about, as soldiers do; now, with their hands loosely clasped before them; now, resting a knee or a shoulder; now, easing a belt or a pouch; now, opening the door to spit stiffly over their high stocks, out into the yard.
ref: 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter V, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 63:
glosses: Sometimes; occasionally; used to list a series of often assumed states.
Derived terms: 3DNow!
all together now
any day now
any minute now
any moment now
any time now
anytime now
as of now
benow
by now
don't look now
even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then
every now and again
every now and then
for now
now on
good now
how now
in the here and now
just now
now-a-days
now a days
now-adays
nowadays
now and again
now and then
nowcast
nowcasting
nowdoc
now for
now hear this
nowish
now I've heard everything
now I've seen everything
nowness
now-now
now now
now, now
now-nowism
now or never
now-or-never
now that
now that's what I call
now that you mention it
now then
now there's a thought
now we're talking
now what
now you mention it
now you're cooking
now you're talking
now you tell me
real soon now
right now
speak now or forever hold your peace
ta-ta for now
tata for now
ta ta for now
that was then
this is now
that was then and this is now
That was then. This is now
that was then, this is now
the future is now
then and now
then-and-now
there now
up to now
what now