From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
very
adv 1: used as intensifiers; `real' is sometimes used informally
for `really'; `rattling' is informal; "she was very
gifted"; "he played very well"; "a really enjoyable
evening"; "I'm real sorry about it"; "a rattling good
yarn" [syn: very, really, real, rattling]
2: precisely so; "on the very next page"; "he expected the very
opposite"
adj 1: precisely as stated; "the very center of town"
2: being the exact same one; not any other:; "this is the
identical room we stayed in before"; "the themes of his
stories are one and the same"; "saw the selfsame quotation in
two newspapers"; "on this very spot"; "the very thing he said
yesterday"; "the very man I want to see" [syn: identical,
{selfsame(a)}, {very(a)}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Very \Ver"y\ (v[e^]r"[y^]), a. [Compar. Verier
(v[e^]r"[i^]*[~e]r); superl. Veriest.] [OE. verai, verray,
OF. verai, vrai, F. vrai, (assumed) LL. veracus, for L. verax
true, veracious, fr. verus true; akin to OHG. & OS. w[=a]r,
G. wahr, D. waar; perhaps originally, that is or exists, and
akin to E. was. Cf. Aver, v. t., Veracious, Verdict,
Verity.]
True; real; actual; veritable.
[1913 Webster]
Whether thou be my very son Esau or not. --Gen. xxvii.
21.
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He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he
that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
--Prov. xvii.
9.
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The very essence of truth is plainness and brightness.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
I looked on the consideration of public service or
public ornament to be real and very justice. --Burke.
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Note: Very is sometimes used to make the word with which it
is connected emphatic, and may then be paraphrased by
same, self-same, itself, and the like. "The very hand,
the very words." --Shak. "The very rats instinctively
have quit it." --Shak. "Yea, there where very
desolation dwells." --Milton. Very is used occasionally
in the comparative degree, and more frequently in the
superlative. "Was not my lord the verier wag of the
two?" --Shak. "The veriest hermit in the nation."
--Pope. "He had spoken the very truth, and transformed
it into the veriest falsehood." --Hawthorne.
[1913 Webster]
Very Reverend. See the Note under Reverend.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Very \Ver"y\ (v[e^]r"[y^]), adv.
In a high degree; to no small extent; exceedingly;
excessively; extremely; as, a very great mountain; a very
bright sun; a very cold day; the river flows very rapidly; he
was very much hurt.
[1913 Webster] Very's night signals