Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12. I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle.
Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.
Present; current. The instant time is always the fittest time. Fuller.
Instantly. [Poetic] Instant he flew with hospitable haste. Pope.
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.
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.
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