perpetual

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.