now and then
    adv 1: now and then or here and there; "he was arrogant and
           occasionally callous"; "open areas are only occasionally
           interrupted by clumps of trees"; "they visit New York on
           occasion"; "now and again she would take her favorite
           book from the shelf and read to us"; "as we drove along,
           the beautiful scenery now and then attracted his
           attention" [syn: occasionally, on occasion, once in
           a while, now and then, now and again, at times,
           from time to time]

Now \Now\ (nou), adv. [OE. nou, nu, AS. n[=u], nu; akin to D.,
   OS., & OHG. nu, G. nu, nun, Icel., n[=u], Dan., Sw., & Goth.
   nu, L. nunc, Gr. ny`, ny^n, Skr. nu, n[=u]. [root]193. Cf.
   New.]
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   1. At the present time; at this moment; at the time of
      speaking; instantly; as, I will write now.
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            I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who
            discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
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   2. Very lately; not long ago.
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            They that but now, for honor and for plate,
            Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.
                                                  --Waller.
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   3. At a time contemporaneous with something spoken of or
      contemplated; at a particular time referred to.
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            The ship was now in the midst of the sea. --Matt.
                                                  xiv. 24.
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   4. In present circumstances; things being as they are; --
      hence, used as a connective particle, to introduce an
      inference or an explanation.
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            How shall any man distinguish now betwixt a parasite
            and a man of honor?                   --L'Estrange.
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            Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is? --Shak.
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            Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but
            Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. --John xviii.
                                                  40.
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            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.
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   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.
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Then \Then\ ([th][e^]n), adv. [Originally the same word as than.
   See Than.]
   1. At that time (referring to a time specified, either past
      or future).
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            And the Canaanite was then in the land. --Gen. xii.
                                                  6.
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            Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as
            also I am known.                      --1 Cor. xiii.
                                                  12.
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   2. Soon afterward, or immediately; next; afterward.
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            First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come
            and offer thy gift.                   --Matt. v. 24.
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   3. At another time; later; again.
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            One while the master is not aware of what is done,
            and then in other cases it may fall out to be own
            act.                                  --L'Estrange.
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   By then.
      (a) By that time.
      (b) By the time that. [Obs.]
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                But that opinion, I trust, by then this
                following argument hath been well read, will be
                left for one of the mysteries of an indulgent
                Antichrist.                       --Milton.
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   Now and then. See under Now, adv.

   Till then, until that time; until the time mentioned.
      --Milton.
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   Note: Then is often used elliptically, like an adjective, for
         then existing; as, the then administration.
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