Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NOW, adv. [Sax. nu, D. Sw. Dan. and Goth. nu. The G. has nun, Gr. νυν, L. nunc.]

1. At the present time. I have a patient now living at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago. Arbuthnot.
2. A little while ago; very lately. They that but now for honor and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate. Waller.
3. At one time; at another time. Now high, now low, now master tap, now miss. Pope.
4. Now sometimes expresses or implies a connection between the subsequent and preceding proposition; often it introduces an inference or an explanation of what precedes. Not this man, but Barabbas; now Barabbas was a robber. John xviii. Then said Micah, now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest. Judges xvii. The other great 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.
5. After this; things being so. How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite and a man of honor? L'Estrange.
6. In supplication, it appears to be somewhat emphatical. I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart. 2 Kings xx.
7. Now sometimes refers to a particular time past specified or understood, and may be defined, at that time. He was now sensible of his mistake. Now and then, at one time and another, indefinitely; occasionally; not often; at intervals. They now and then appear in offices of religion. Rogers. If there were any such thing as spontaneous generation, a new species would now and then appear. Anon. #2. Applied to places which appear at intervals or in succession. A mead here, there a heath, and now and then a wood. Drayton. Now, now, repeated, is used to excite attention to something immediately to happen.