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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Instant

In'stant, a.

adjective

a. [Lat. instans, p. pr. of instare, to stand upon, to press upon, from prefix in and stare, to stand; It. & Sp. instante.]

Sense 1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12.

Sense 2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.

Sense 3. Making no delay; quick. Instant he flew with hospitable haste. Pope.

Sense 4. Present; current. The instant time is always the fittest time. Fuller.

☞ The word in this sense is used chiefly in dates, to indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July instant.

In'stant, n.

noun

n. [Fr. instant, Sp. instante, It. instante, istante, from Lat. instans, standing by, being near, present. See supra.] 1. A point in duration; a moment; a part of duration in which we perceive no succession, or a part that occupies the time of a single thought. There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. Hooker.

  1. A particular time. “Any unseasonable instant of the night.” Shak.
  2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant.

☞ The word as used in this sense was originally an adjective, agreeing with the name of the month, and acquired a substantive use from the omission of the latter, the phrases the tenth instant, the twentieth instant, and the like, which are used only with reference to the current month, being equivalent to the tenth day of the present or instant month, &c., so that, in January, the tenth instant is said, instead of the tenth of January instant, and similarly for the other months. See INSTANT, a.