What is "for ever and a day"

Ever \Ev"er\adv. [OE. ever, [ae]fre, AS. [ae]fre; perh. akin to AS. [=a] always. Cf. Aye, Age, Evry, Never.]

1. At any time; at any period or point of time.

   No man ever yet hated his own flesh.
   --Eph. v. 29.

2. At all times; through all time; always; forever.

   He shall ever love, and always be The subject of by scorn and cruelty.
   --Dryder.

3. Without cessation; continually.

   Note: Ever is sometimes used as an intensive or a word of enforcement. ``His the old man e'er a son?''
   --Shak.

   To produce as much as ever they can.
   --M. Arnold.

   Ever and anon, now and then; often. See under Anon.

   Ever is one, continually; constantly. [Obs.]
   --Chaucer.

   Ever so, in whatever degree; to whatever extent; -- used to intensify indefinitely the meaning of the associated adjective or adverb. See Never so, under Never. ``Let him be ever so rich.''
   --Emerson.

   And all the question (wrangle e'er so long), Is only this, if God has placed him wrong.
   --Pope.

   You spend ever so much money in entertaining your equals and betters.
   --Thackeray.

   For ever, eternally. See Forever.

   For ever and a day, emphatically forever.
   --Shak.

   She [Fortune] soon wheeled away, with scornful laughter, out of sight for ever and day.
   --Prof. Wilson.

   Or ever (for or ere), before. See Or, ere. [Archaic]

   Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
   --Shak.

   Note: Ever is sometimes joined to its adjective by a hyphen, but in most cases the hyphen is needless; as, ever memorable, ever watchful, ever burning.