King James Bible Dictionary

PERPET'UAL, adjective [Latin perpetuus, from perpes, perpetis; per and pes, from a root signifying to pass.]

1. Never ceasing; continuing forever in future time; destined to be eternal; as a perpetual covenant; a perpetual statute.

[Literally true with respect to the decrees of the Supreme Being.]

2. Continuing or continued without intermission; uninterrupted; as a perpetual stream; the perpetual action of the heart and arteries.

3. Permanent; fixed; not temporary; as a perpetual law or edict; perpetual love or amity, perpetual incense. Exodus 30:8.

4. Everlasting; endless.

Destructions are come to a perpetual end. Psalms 9:6.

5. During the legal dispensation. Exodus 29:9.

Perpetual curacy, is where all the tithes are appropriated and no vicarage is endowed.

Perpetual motion, motion that generates a power of continuing itself forever or indefinitely, by means of mechanism or some application of the force of gravity; not yet discovered, and probably impossible.

Perpetual screw, a screw that acts against the teeth of a wheel and continues its action without end.

PERPET'UALLY, adverb Constantly; continually; applied to things which proceed without intermission, or which occur frequently or at intervals, without limitation. A perennial spring flows perpetually; the weather varies perpetually

The Bible and common prayer book in the vulgar tongue, being perpetually read in churches, have proved a kind of standard for language.