Definition of "everlasting"

Whether we shall meet again I know not; Therefore our everlasting farewell take; Forever, and forever farewell, Cassius.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]

The Everlasting God.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 21:33

I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee […] the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 17:8

And heard thy everlasting yawn confess The pains and penalties of idleness.

1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd

The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them.

1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 10, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

Reverently I replaced the grave-cloths, and, with a sigh that flowers so fair should, in the purpose of the Everlasting, have only bloomed to be gathered to the grave, I turned to the body on the opposite shelf, and gently unveiled it.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887

With a backward look Small said, “What a lovely lily!” “Well enough but strong-smelling, gaudy. Come see the everlastings.”

1942, Emily Carr, “The Orange Lily”, in The Book of Small

‘It is true perhaps it is too late now for you to look like a rose; but you can always look like an everlasting.’

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 313

Everlastings of one kind or another were used to make gaiters, shoe tops and liveries for sergeants and catchpoles.

1988, Eric Kerridge, Textile Manufactures in Early Modern England, page 64