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For ever and a day
For ever and a day
For ever and a day : Phrases
Meaning:
Indefinitely.
Example:
Origin:
Of course, for ever and a day is an dramatic construct with no literal meaning - for ever is for ever, we can't add days to it. This form of dramatic emphasis has been used many times, a recent example being The Beatles' song 'Eight Days a Week'.
Shakespeare coined this and used it in The Taming of the Shrew, 1596:
BIONDELLO I cannot tell; expect they are busied about a counterfeit assurance: take you assurance of her, 'cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum:' to the church; take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses: If this be not that you look for, I have no more to say, But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.
He must have liked it as he used it again in As You Like It, 1599:
ROSALIND: Now tell me how long you would have her after you have possessed her.
ORLANDO: For ever and a day.
