a. Existing at the present time; present. [ R. ] “Our now happiness.” Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ OE. nou, nu, AS. nū, nu; akin to D., OS., & OHG. nu, G. nu, nun, Icel., nū, Dan., Sw., & Goth. nu, L. nunc, Gr. ny`, ny^n, Skr. nu, nū. √193. Cf. New. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. At the present time; at this moment; at the time of speaking; instantly; as, I will write now. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Very lately; not long ago. [ 1913 Webster ]

They that but now, for honor and for plate,
Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or contemplated; at a particular time referred to. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ship was now in the midst of the sea. Matt. xiv. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. In present circumstances; things being as they are; -- hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an inference or an explanation. [ 1913 Webster ]

How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite and a man of honor? L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. John xviii. 40. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now and again, now and then; occasionally. --
Now and now, again and again; repeatedly. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
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.” Drayton. --
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.” J. Webster (1607). --
Now . . . now, alternately; at one time . . . at another time. “Now high, now low, now master up, now miss.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The present time or moment; the present. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past;
But an eternal now does ever last. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ For now on (OE. an) days. See A-, 1. ] In these days; at the present time. [ 1913 Webster ]

What men of spirit, nowadays,
Come to give sober judgment of new plays? Garrick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Nouch. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The European gray gurnard (Trigla gurnardus). [ Written also knoud. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. noué, p. p. of nouer to knot, fr. L. nodare. See Nodated. ] (Her.) Knotted; tied in a knot, as a serpent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. noyau, prop., a kernel. See Noyau, Newel a post. ] (Founding) (a) The core, or the inner part, of a mold for casting a large hollow object. (b) The bottom part of a mold or of a flask, in distinction from the cope; the drag. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Noel. ] [ Written also noel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Christmas; also, a shout of joy at Christmas for the birth of the Savior. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) A kind of hymn, or canticle, of mediaeval origin, sung in honor of the Nativity of our Lord; a Christmas carol. Grove. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ From OF. nous. See Noose, Node. ] The marriage knot. [ Obs. ] Crashaw. [ 1913 Webster ]