Obs. Forms: 1 ǽce, 1–2 éce, 2 ech, ache, 2–3 eche. [OE. ǽce, éce, repr. OTeut. *aiwokjo-, f. *aiwo(m = L. ævum age (see A adv., AY); cf. Goth. ajuk (:—*aiwoko-) in ajukdups eternity.] Everlasting, eternal. Also quasi-sb. in phrase in eche.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter cxi[i]. 7[6]. In ʓemynde æcre bið se rehtwisa.
837. Kentish Charter, in Sweet, O. E. Texts (1885), 449. Ðat mon agefe ðæt lond inn hiʓum to heora beode him to brucanne on ece ærfe.
a. 1000. Riddles (Gr.), xli. 1. Ece is se scyppend.
c. 1175. Cott. Hom., 239. Witeð into ece fer.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 364, in Trin. Coll. Hom., 231. God one sal ben ache lif, and blisse . and ache reste.
a. 1225. Juliana, 79. Iheiet beo he him ane as he wes and is eauer in eche.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1277. Ah eavreeuh thing that eche nis A-gon schal and al this worldes blis.
