ever so

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.Not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Death still draws nearer, never seeming near.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

2.In no degree; not in the least; not. [1913 Webster]

Whosoever has a friend to guide him, may carry his eyes in another man's head, and yet see never the worse.— South.[1913 Webster]

And he answered him to never a word.— Matt. xxvii. 14.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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.[1913 Webster]

1.At any time; at any period or point of time. [1913 Webster]

No man ever yet hated his own flesh.— Eph. v. 29.[1913 Webster]

2.At all times; through all time; always; forever. [1913 Webster]

He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by scorn and cruelty.— Dryder.[1913 Webster]

3.Without cessation; continually. [1913 Webster]

Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of enforcement. "His the old man e'er a son?" --Shak. [1913 Webster]

To produce as much as ever they can.— M. Arnold.[1913 Webster]

Ever and anon, now and then; often. See under Anon.

Ever is one, continually; constantly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Ever so, in whatever degree; to whatever extent; -- used to intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated adjective or adverb. See Never so, under Never. "Let him be ever so rich." --Emerson. [1913 Webster]

And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only this, if God has placed him wrong.— Pope.[1913 Webster]

You spend ever so much money in entertaining your equals and betters.— Thackeray.

For ever, eternally. See Forever.

For ever and a day, emphatically forever. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

She [Fortune] soon wheeled away, with scornful laughter, out of sight for ever and day.— Prof. Wilson.

Or ever (for or ere), before. See Or, ere. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]

Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!— Shak.[1913 Webster]

Note: Ever is sometimes joined to its adjective by a hyphen, but in most cases the hyphen is needless; as, ever memorable, ever watchful, ever burning. [1913 Webster]