every

alternative poetic ev'ry · alternative obsolete ivery · alternative obsolete euery · alternative colloquial e'ry

1. All of a countable group (considered individually), without exception.

   She watches my every move.

   4 more examples

   Every person in the room stood and cheered.

   At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

   Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

   2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36

2. Denotes equal spacing at a stated interval, or a proportion corresponding to such a spacing.

   The alarm is going off every few minutes.

   3 more examples

   We stopped for refreshments every ten miles.

   Every third bead was red, and the rest were blue. The sequence was thus red, blue, blue, red, blue, blue etc.

   Decimation originally meant the execution of every tenth soldier in a unit; that is, ten per cent of soldiers were killed.

3. Denotes an abundance of something.

   There is every reason why we shouldn't.

   3 more examples

   We wish you every happiness in the future.

   He shows every sign of becoming an excellent player. I have every confidence in him.

   The police will make every effort to trace the missing girl.

1. A surname.