Ver"y (?), adv. In
a high degree; to no
small extent; exceedingly; excessively; extremely; as, a very great mountain; a very bright sum; a
very cold day; the river flows very rapidly; he was very much hurt.
Ver"y (?), a.
[Compar. Verier (?); superl.
Veriest.]
[OE. verai, verray, OF. verai,
vrai, F. vrai, (assumed) LL. veracus, for
L. verax true, veracious, fr. verus true; akin to
OHG. & OS. wār, G. wahr, D. waar; perhaps originally, that is or exists, and
akin to E.
was. Cf. Aver,
v. t., Veracious, Verdict, Verity.]
True; real; actual; veritable.
Whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
Gen. xxvii. 21. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very
friends.
Prov. xvii. 9. The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness.
Milton.
I looked on the consideration of public service or public ornament to be real and very justice.
Burke. &fist; Very is sometimes used to make the word
with which it is connected emphatic, and may then be
paraphrased by same, self- same, itself, and the like. "The
very hand, the very words."
Shak. "The very
rats instinctively have quit it."
Shak. "Yea, there where very desolation dwells." Milton. Very is used occasionally in the comparative degree, and more frequently in the superlative. "Was not my lord the verier wag of the two?"
Shak. "The veriest hermit in the
nation." Pope. "He had spoken
the very truth, and transformed it into the
veriest falsehood." Hawthorne.
Very Reverend.
See the Note under Reverend.
Hear it pronounced