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Now and then   /naʊ ənd ðɛn/   Listen
adverb
Now  adv.  
1.
At the present time; at this moment; at the time of speaking; instantly; as, I will write now. "I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago."
2.
Very lately; not long ago. "They that but now, for honor and for plate, Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate."
3.
At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or contemplated; at a particular time referred to. "The ship was now in the midst of the sea."
4.
In present circumstances; things being as they are; hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an inference or an explanation. "How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite and a man of honor?" "Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is?" "Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber." "The other great and undoing mischief which befalls men is, by their being misrepresented. Now, by calling evil good, a man is misrepresented to others in the way of slander."
Now and again, now and then; occasionally.
Now and now, again and again; repeatedly. (Obs.)
Now and then, at one time and another; indefinitely; occasionally; not often; at intervals. "A mead here, there a heath, and now and then a wood."
Now now, at this very instant; precisely now. (Obs.) "Why, even now now, at holding up of this finger, and before the turning down of this."
Now... now, alternately; at one time... at another time. "Now high, now low, now master up, now miss."



Then  adv.  
1.
At that time (referring to a time specified, either past or future). "And the Canaanite was then in the land." "Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
2.
Soon afterward, or immediately; next; afterward. "First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
3.
At another time; later; again. "One while the master is not aware of what is done, and then in other cases it may fall out to be own act."
By then.
(a)
By that time.
(b)
By the time that. (Obs.) "But that opinion, I trust, by then this following argument hath been well read, will be left for one of the mysteries of an indulgent Antichrist."
Now and then. See under Now, adv.
Till then, until that time; until the time mentioned. Note: Then is often used elliptically, like an adjective, for then existing; as, the then administration.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Now and then" Quotes from Famous Books



... he spoke, and then she started, and blushed, and stopped, and nervously broke off the top of a last year's iron-weed and began to break it into bits while he talked, looking down most of the time, but lifting her eyes to his now and then. And to the sun-browned but delicate-faced young German it seemed, a vision of Paradise—every glimpse of that fresh girl's face in the deep shade of the sun-bonnet. For girls' faces can never look so sweet in this generation as they did to the boys who caught sight of them, hidden ...
— The End Of The World - A Love Story • Edward Eggleston

... Madame la Duchesse, Madame la Princesse de Conti, and all the ladies, and behind them again, many men. At the right window was the King, standing, and a little in the rear, a semicircle of the most distinguished men of the Court. The King was nearly always uncovered; and every now and then stooped to speak to Madame de Maintenon, and explain to her what she saw, and the reason of each movement. Each time that he did so she was obliging enough to open the window four or five inches, but never half way; for I noticed particularly, and I admit that I was more ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... wood across the valley the Prussians appeared to be receiving re-enforcements, for their fire gradually grew warmer. There was no one to be seen; at most, the swiftly vanishing form now and then of a man changing his position. A villa, with green shutters, was occupied by their sharpshooters, who fired from the half-open windows of the rez-de-chaussee. It was about four o'clock, and the noise of the cannonade in the distance was diminishing, the guns were being silenced ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola

... they had been in their own Kirk, had been sitting there during worship, and now stood up before the minister.... Some of the younger ones in that semicircle kept gazing down into the pool, in which the whole scene was reflected; and now and then, in spite of the grave looks or admonishing whispers of their elders, letting a pebble fall into the water, that they might judge of its depth from the length of time that elapsed before the clear air-bells lay sparkling on the agitated ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. XIX. No. 540, Saturday, March 31, 1832 • Various

... Discussion, however, was useless. An attempt to secure the tent properly in such weather was impossible, while they felt that if once they loosed their grip, the tent would hasten to leave them at once and for ever. Every now and then they were forced to get a fresh hold, and lever themselves once more over the skirt. And as they remained hour after hour grimly hanging on and warning each other of frostbitten features, their sleeping-bags became fuller and fuller of snow, until ...
— The Voyages of Captain Scott - Retold from 'The Voyage of the "Discovery"' and 'Scott's - Last Expedition' • Charles Turley


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