Definitions for: Instant


[n] a particular point in time; "the moment he arrived the party began"
[n] a very short time (as the time it takes to blink once); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash"
[adj] demanding attention; "clamant needs"; "a crying need"; "regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken; "insistent hunger"; "an instant need"
[adj] in or of the present month; "your letter of the 10th inst"



Webster (1913) Definition: In"stant, a. [L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to
stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand:
cf. F. in?tant. 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.

Note: 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.

Synonyms: blink of an eye, clamant, crying, exigent, flash, imperative, insistent, inst, jiffy, minute, moment, New York minute, present(a), second, split second, trice, twinkling, wink

See Also: bit, climax, culmination, moment of truth, pinpoint, point, point in time, psychological moment, time

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