Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Instant

In′stant (ĭn′stant), a. [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. instant. See Stand.]

1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest.

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12.

I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle.

2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay.

Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.

3. Present; current.

The instant time is always the fittest time. Fuller.

☞ The word in this sense is now used only in dates, to indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July instant.

In′stant, adv. Instantly. [Poetic]

Instant he flew with hospitable haste. Pope.

In′stant, n. [F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by, being near, present. See Instant, a.]

1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment.

There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. Hooker.

2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; — an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3.

Syn. — Moment; flash; second.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.