now

adj

1. (not-comparable)Present; current.

   “[…] to my now wife Mabell, my child Elisabeth, & my child now begotten, &c., and they to be joint Exõrs, & if all die, then the same jointly to my brother William Every & my sisters Sarah Skibbowe & Joan Brice.”

   “Defects seem as necessary to our now happiness as their Opposites.”

   “The history of the infant colonies teaches us that the country comprised within the limits of the now United States of America was originally patented in the reign of James I., of England, into two portions: that in less than eighty years from that period, the same was again divided into twelve distinct provinces; a thirteenth being after added in the creation of the State of Georgia.”

   “Where in assumpsit for money lent, the defendant pleaded that in an action in which the now defendant was plaintiff, and the now plaintiff was defendant,[…].”

   “Radio 4's continuity announcer said at the end of the show: "As many of you will have noticed, that edition of The Now Show wasn't very now. It was actually last week's programme. Our apologies for that."”

2. (informal, not-comparable)Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.

   “I think this band's sound is very now.”

   “ADAM: I was just thinking, I... (sees the lyre) Hey, brother, do you play? Is it Vulcan? Can I try it? // (Spock gestures his permission and Adam strums a chord) // ADAM: Ho ho, that's now! That's real now! I reach that, brother. I really do. // (He hands the lyre to Spock who plays it briefly)”

   “Bernard: What does it do? Fran: It's very in. Bernard: You don't know what it is, do you? Fran: It's very now.”

adv

1. (not-comparable)At the present time.

   “Now I am six.”

   “Stop that now, Jimmy!”

   “I could have been Secretary of State now if I hadn’t left politics five years ago.”

   “We can’t phone now – they will certainly have gone to bed.”

2. (not-comparable)Used to introduce a point, a qualification of what has previously been said, a remonstration or a rebuke.

   “Now, we all want what is best for our children.”

   “Now, Jimmy, stop that.”

   “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.”

   ““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.””

3. (not-comparable)Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.

   “Now I am ready.”

   “We all now want the latest toys for our children.”

   “We all want what is now best for our children.”

   “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.”

4. (not-comparable)At the time reached within a narration.

   “Now he remembered why he had come.”

   “He now asked her whether she had made pudding.”

   “The pudding was now ready to be served.”

5. (not-comparable)Used to indicate a context of urgency.

   “Now listen, we must do something about this.”

6. (informal, not-comparable)At the present point of a recurring cycle or event.

   “I always used to do my shopping now, to avoid the rush.”

7. (not-comparable, obsolete)Very recently; not long ago; up to the present.

   “They that but now, for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.”

8. (not-comparable)Used to address a switching side, or sharp change in attitude from before.

   “Now, you want to protect me. An hour ago, you were mercilessly bullying me!”

9. (not-comparable)Sometimes; occasionally; used to list a series of often assumed states.

   “His face fit his roles: now smiling, now earnest, now glowering, now raging.”

   “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.”

conj

1. (often)Since, because, in light of the fact.

   “Now all the children have grown up and left, the house is very quiet.”

   “Now that my sister has gotten rid of their cat, we can go to her house this coming Thanksgiving.”

   “We can play football now that the rain has stopped.”

   “Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry.”

   “Now that we're all here, let's start the meeting.”

intj

1. Indicates a signal to begin.

   “Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!”

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)The present time.

   “Now is the right time.”

   “There is no better time than now.”

2. (often, uncountable, usually)The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.

   “She is living in the now.”

3. (countable, usually)A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.

   “Forever is composed of Nows— / 'T is not a different time, / Except for infiniteness / And latitude of home.”

   “Time is not thrust together and summed up out of nows, but the reverse: with reference to the now we can articulate the stretching out of time always only in specific ways.”

4. (US, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of negotiable order of withdrawal (“an instrument similar to a check”).

verb

1. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of know.

   “I don't now.”

name

1. (US, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization.