INSTANT . ‘Instant’ and ‘instantly’ are now used only of time. In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] they have their earlier meaning of ‘urgent,’ ‘urgently,’ as in Luke 23:23 ‘they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified’; Luke 7:4 ‘they besought him instantly’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘earnestly’). Cf. Erasmus, Paraphrase , i. 31, ‘whoso knocketh at the doore instantly, to him it shal be opened.’