always

Etymology

From Middle English alwayes, allwayes, allweyes, a variant of Middle English allwaye, alwey, alle wey (“always”), from Old English ealneġ, ealneweġ (“always, perpetually”, literally “all the way, all the while, continuously”), from ealne + weġ (accusative case), equivalent to alway + -s. Cognate with Scots alwayis (“always”), Low German allerwegens (“very often”, literally “all ways'”). More at all, way.

adv

1. At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.
   God is always the same.
   Green has always been my favorite color. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.
   Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.
   Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3
2. Constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals (opposed to sometimes or occasionally).
   In this street, the shops always close during lunchtime.
   His liveries are black,—his carriage is black,—he always rides a black galloway,—and, faith, if he ever marry again, I think he will show his respect to the sainted Maria by marrying a black woman. 1840, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Money
   And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations has waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,[…]. 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
   The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess
3. (informal) In any event.
   I thought I could always go back to work.