Perpetual \Per*pet"u*al\, a. [OE. perpetuel, F. perp['e]tuel,
   fr. L. perpetualis, fr. perpetuus continuing throughout,
   continuous, fr. perpes, -etis, lasting throughout.]
   Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time;
   unfailing; everlasting; continuous.
   [1913 Webster]

         Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.     --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

         Perpetual feast of nectared sweets.      --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

   Circle of perpetual apparition, or Circle of perpetual
   occultation. See under Circle.

   Perpetual calendar, a calendar so devised that it may be
      adjusted for any month or year.

   Perpetual curacy (Ch. of Eng.), a curacy in which all the
      tithes are appropriated, and no vicarage is endowed.
      --Blackstone.

   Perpetual motion. See under Motion.

   Perpetual screw. See Endless screw, under Screw.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Continual; unceasing; endless; everlasting; incessant;
        constant; eternal. See Constant.
        [1913 Webster]

	

	Tax \Tax\, n. [F. taxe, fr. taxer to tax, L. taxare to touch,
   sharply, to feel, handle, to censure, value, estimate, fr.
   tangere, tactum, to touch. See Tangent, and cf. Task,
   Taste.]
   1. A charge, especially a pecuniary burden which is imposed
      by authority. Specifically: 
      [1913 Webster]
      (a) A charge or burden laid upon persons or property for
          the support of a government.
          [1913 Webster]

                A farmer of taxes is, of all creditors,
                proverbially the most rapacious.  --Macaulay.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) Especially, the sum laid upon specific things, as upon
          polls, lands, houses, income, etc.; as, a land tax; a
          window tax; a tax on carriages, and the like.

   Note: Taxes are annual or perpetual, direct or
         indirect, etc.
         [1913 Webster]
      (c) A sum imposed or levied upon the members of a society
          to defray its expenses.
          [1913 Webster]

   2. A task exacted from one who is under control; a
      contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed
      upon a subject.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge; as, a heavy
      tax on time or health.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Charge; censure. [Obs.] --Clarendon.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A lesson to be learned; a task. [Obs.] --Johnson.
      [1913 Webster]

   Tax cart, a spring cart subject to a low tax. [Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Impost; tribute; contribution; duty; toll; rate;
        assessment; exaction; custom; demand.
        [1913 Webster]
        [1913 Webster]

	

	perpetual
    adj 1: continuing forever or indefinitely; "the ageless themes
           of love and revenge"; "eternal truths"; "life
           everlasting"; "hell's perpetual fires"; "the unending
           bliss of heaven" [syn: ageless, aeonian, eonian,
           eternal, everlasting, perpetual, unending,
           unceasing]
    2: uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing; "the
       ceaseless thunder of surf"; "in constant pain"; "night and
       day we live with the incessant noise of the city"; "the
       never-ending search for happiness"; "the perpetual struggle
       to maintain standards in a democracy"; "man's unceasing
       warfare with drought and isolation"; "unremitting demands of
       hunger" [syn: ceaseless, constant, incessant, never-
       ending, perpetual, unceasing, unremitting]

	

	184 Moby Thesaurus words for "perpetual":
   abiding, age-long, aged, ageless, all-comprehensive, all-inclusive,
   all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-wise, almighty, ancient,
   antique, boundless, ceaseless, changeless, chattering, chronic,
   coeternal, constant, continual, continuing, continuous, countless,
   creating, creative, dateless, diuturnal, durable, endless,
   enduring, eternal, eternally the same, eterne, ever-being,
   ever-durable, ever-during, evergreen, everlasting, everliving,
   exhaustless, extending everywhere, firm, fixed, frozen, glorious,
   good, hallowed, hardy, highest, holy, illimitable, illimited,
   immeasurable, immemorial, immense, immobile, immortal, immutable,
   incalculable, incessant, incomprehensible, indestructible,
   inexhaustible, infinite, infinitely continuous, innumerable,
   intact, interminable, interminate, intransient, invariable,
   inveterate, inviolate, just, lasting, limitless, long-lasting,
   long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous, loving,
   luminous, machine gun, macrobiotic, majestic, making, measureless,
   merciful, never-ceasing, never-ending, no end of, nonstop,
   nonterminating, nonterminous, numinous, of long duration,
   of long standing, olamic, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, one,
   oscillating, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent,
   persistent, persisting, pulsating, quiescent, radiant, rapid,
   recurrent, regular, remaining, repeated, repetitive, rigid, sacred,
   sempervirent, sempiternal, shaping, shoreless, solid, sovereign,
   stable, staccato, static, stationary, staying, steadfast, steady,
   stuttering, sumless, supreme, sustained, termless, timeless,
   torpid, tough, ubiquitous, unaltered, unbounded, unbroken,
   unceasing, unchangeable, unchanged, unchanging, unchecked,
   uncircumscribed, undefined, undestroyed, undeviating, unending,
   unfading, unfailing, unfathomable, unintermitted, unintermittent,
   unintermitting, uninterrupted, universal, unlimited, unmeasurable,
   unmeasured, unnumbered, unplumbed, unremitting, unshifting,
   unstopped, untold, unvaried, unvarying, vibrating, vital,
   without bound, without end, without limit, without measure,
   without number

	

	PERPETUAL. That which is to last without limitation as to time; as, a 
perpetual statute, which is one without limit as to time, although not 
expressed to be so.