Part 288

2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay.

Impending death is thine, and instant doom.

Prior.

3. Present; current.

The instant time is always the fittest time.

Fuller.

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

In"stant, adv. Instantly. [Poetic]

Instant he flew with hospitable haste.

Pope.

In"stant, n. [F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by, being near, present. See Instant, a.]

1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment.

There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being.

Hooker.

2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3.

Syn. -- Moment; flash; second.

In*stan`ta*ne"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. instantanéité.] Quality of being instantaneous. Shenstone.

In`stan*ta"ne*ous (?), a. [Cf. F. instantané.]

1. Done or occurring in an instant, or without any perceptible duration of time; as, the passage of electricity appears to be instantaneous.

His reason saw With instantaneous view, the truth of things.

Thomson.

2. At or during a given instant; as, instantaneous acceleration, velocity, etc.

Instantaneous center of rotation (Kinematics), in a plane or in a plane figure which has motions both of translation and of rotation in the plane, is the point which for the instant is at rest. -- Instantaneous axis of rotation (Kinematics), in a body which has motions both of translation and rotation, is a line, which is supposed to be rigidly united with the body, and which for the instant is at rest. The motion of the body is for the instant simply that of rotation about the instantaneous axis.

-- In`stan*ta"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- In`stan*ta"ne*ous*ness, n.

||In*stan"ter (?), adv. [L., vehemently, earnestly. See Instant, n. & ||a.] Immediately; instantly; at once; as, he left instanter. || In"stant*ly (?), adv. 1. Without the least delay or interval; at once; immediately. Macaulay.

2. With urgency or importunity; earnestly; pressingly. "They besought him instantly." Luke vii. 4.

Syn. -- Directly; immediately; at once. See Directly.

In*star" (?), v. t. To stud as with stars. [R.] "A golden throne instarred with gems." J. Barlow.