| 释义 |
▪ I. nonce1|nɒns|
Forms: 3 [to þan anes], Ormin naness, 4–5 nonis, 4–6 nones, nonys, nons, nonest (5 nownes, noones, -ys, 6 nonst(e, 6–7 nonse, 8–9 dial. noance; Sc. and north. 4 nanyse, 4–5 nanes, 5–6 -is), 6– nonce.
[orig. in the ME. phrases to þan ane, *for þan ane, to þan anes, *for þan anes, the last of which was altered by wrong division (as in a newt for an ewt) to for þe nanes, nones, literally = for or with a view to the one (thing, occasion, etc.). The genitival form anes was substituted for the original dative ane probably by analogy with the synonymous pairs ane and anes, ene and enes = once. For the forms nonest, nonst, cf. onest, onst for ones, once amidst for amiddes.]
1. for the nonce:
a. For the particular purpose; on purpose; expressly. Often with inf. or clause expressing the object or purpose. Obs. exc. dial.
c1200Ormin 7160, & wel itt mihhte ben þatt he Wass gramm..All forr þe naness, forr þatt he Swa wollde don hiss lede To ben all þess te mare offdredd Off himm & off hiss eȝȝe. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5795 He com & mette him in a wode & bed him abyde, & he adde uor þe nones tueye suerdes bi is syde. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 108 Steuen com for þe nons, þis lond to haf he þouht. c1386Chaucer Prol. 381 A Cook they hadde with hem for the nones, To boille the chiknes with the mary-bones. c1440Promp. Parv. 173/2 For the nonys, idcirco, ex proposito. c1450Merlin 420 For the dredde that theire beerdes sholde growe she lete a-noynte her chynnes with certeyn oynementes made for the nones. 1533More Answ. to poysoned Bk. Wks. 1055/1 Thys bread is bread descending from heauen for the nones that whoso may eate and be fedde of that, shall not perish by euerlasting death. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 216 She withdrewe her into a litle place made for the nones on the one side of the quere. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John ii. 5–8 Jesus deferred y⊇ myracle for the nonest, because the lacke of wyne should be the better perceiued of euery body. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 201, I haue Cases of Buckram for the nonce, to immaske our noted outward garments. 1600Holland Livy xxiii. xxiii. 490 Trifling out the time for the nonce and of purpose [orig. sedulo]. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy ii. 128 They buryed her alive in a low vault made for the nonce. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 80 The least locomotive faculty, in the meanest reptile, must..be provided with..nerves, tubes, reservoirs, levers, and pulleys, for the nonce. 1853W. D. Cooper Sussex Gloss. (ed. 2), Nonce, purpose, intent, design. ‘He did it for the nonce.’ Still in frequent use in S. and Hants. 1887Kentish Gloss.
b. In ME. poetry (and later, more or less archaically) used as a metrical tag or stop-gap, with no special meaning; frequently riming with bones and stones.
c1315Shoreham Poems v. 233 Þare he fond flesch and blod myd þe bones, An nou he gan to crye loude for þe nones: ‘My lord ich abbe y-founde.’ 13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 844 A hoge haþel for þe nonez, & of hyghe elde. 1375Barbour Bruce x. 58 The folk off Lorne..tumlit on hym stanys, Richt gret and hevy for the nanys. 1390Gower Conf. II. 102 A stille water for the nones Rennende upon the smale stones. c1400Destr. Troy 1502 Of hir ffeturs & fairhed is ferly to telle, Alse noble for þe nonyst as nature cold deuyse. c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 2051 The lyon hungerd for the nanes, Ful fast he ete raw fless and banes. c1440Generydes 3289 His helme was wele ordeynyd for the nonys, Right wele garnysshed with perle & precious stonys. 1513Douglas æneis viii. i. 67 Eneas..hymself doun layd.. for the nanis, And gave schort rest vnto his wery banis. 1557Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 169 Behold my picture here well portrayed for the nones, With hart consumed and fallyng flesshe, lo here the very bones. 1591Spenser Vision Bellay vi, I saw her litle ones In wanton dalliance the teate to crave, While she her neck wreath'd from them for the nones. a1635Corbet Poems (1647) 50 Here for the nonce, Came Thomas Jonce, In St. Jileses Church to lye. 1832L. Hunt Poems 289 A cup of good Corsican Does it at once; Or a glass of old Spanish Is neat for the nonce.
c. For the occasion; hence (in modern use), for the time being; temporarily.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xvi. (Arb.) 143 If your word polysillable would not sound pleasantly whole, ye should for the nonce breake him. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 98 To make a Conscience fit for the nonse, he sayes [etc.]. 1775Wesley Wks. (1872) VII. 406 Do we not continually tell lies for the nonce, without gaining thereby either profit or pleasure? 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxvi, I fear..there is no one here that is qualified to take upon him, for the nonce, this same character of Father Confessor. 1848Dickens Dombey vi, Converting the parlour, for the nonce, into a private tyring room. 1859Jephson Brittany iv. 42, I therefore made a virtue of necessity, and was a good Catholic for the nonce. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. iii. lvi. (1890) II. 376 They will take the often more profitable course of fusing for the nonce with one of the regular parties.
†2.
a. to þan ane(s, o' the nonce = 1 a. with the nones: on condition (that). Obs.
c1205Lay. 17304 Þa þet word him com to þet Brutes wolden þer don, & comen to þan anes to fæchen þa stanes. Ibid. 21506 Mid spæren and mid græte waȝen to þan ane icoren. c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 1009 And here I wol ensuren thee With the nones that thou wolt do so, That [etc.]. c1385― L.G.W. 1540 Hypsipyle, As wolde almighty god that I had yive My blood and flesh, so that I mighte live, With the nones that he hadde o-wher a wyf For his estat. c1400Gamelyn 206, I wold geve ten pound,..With the nones I fand a man to handil him sore. 1665Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 116 She kept Sichæus' Bones In a great Coffer made o' th' nonce.
†b. in the nonce: at that moment, at once.
c1475Hunt. Hare 266 Y wold that..In the nownes ye had me the coppe gene, For therof had Y nede.
3. † for the very nonce: for the express purpose. at the very nonce: at the very moment.
1627J. Carter Plain Expos. 55 When they fasted,..insteed of disfiguring their lusts, they disfigured their faces, for the very nonce; affecting rather the seeming then the substance of sanctimony. 1681Hickeringill Black Non-Conf. iii. Wks. 1716 II. 36 If they stray, thou art a good Shepherd, reduce them; thou are well kept and paid for the very nonce. 1705― Priest-cr. i. ibid. III. 4 So fitted and accoutred by Providence for the very nonce. 1855Browning Childe Roland xxx, Fool, to be dozing at the very nonce, After a life spent training for the sight!
4. attrib.: nonce-word, the term used in this Dictionary to describe a word which is apparently used only for the nonce (see vol. I, p. xxvii); similarly nonce-use, etc.; similarly nonce-borrowing, nonce-combination, nonce-form, nonce-formation, nonce-meaning.
1954U. Weinreich in Saporta & Bastian Psycholinguistics (1961) 385/1 At the time of his utterance, it is a ‘nonce-borrowing’.
1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 301 A number of them..also meet the condition of not being independent words used in some nonce-combination.
1962H. A. Gleason in Householder & Saporta Problems in Lexicography 88 A dictionary-maker need not include a non-idiomatic nonce-form.
1957Archivum Linguisticum IX. 122 It clearly functions morphemically as everyday nonce-formations testify.
1943C. L. Wrenn Word & Symbol (1967) 97 The most surprisingly beautiful result of Spenser's experimenting in poetic language is in the use..of the word Cheuisaunce, which may be described as having acquired for special purpose what I would call a nonce-meaning.
1884Nonce-wd. [see anotherness]. 1927Englische Studien Nov. 99 If an alternative explanation presents itself, topographical nonce-words ought to be avoided. 1957R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. i. ii. 43 Some of them are nonce-words, i.e. spontaneous creations by a speaker or writer, coined for the occasion.
▪ II. nonce2 Criminals' slang.|nɒns|
[Origin uncertain: see quot. 1984 and nonce good-for-nothing fellow (Eng. Dial. Dict. Suppl.).]
A sexual deviant; one convicted of a sexual offence, esp. child-molesting.
1975Time Out 3 Jan. 7/1 What he told Seven Days about his experiences as a sex offender in prison raises a number of urgent questions on the subject of treatment and attitudes to ‘nonces’, the term used for them by other prisoners. 1977Community Care 2 Nov. 19/3 After the officer had finished his rounds he came back, stormed into my cell and pushed me over the bed. He said: ‘You're a f{ddd} nonce, you raped a nurse and you want heating!’ 1984Police Rev. 18 May 975/3 Nonce, prison term for a child molester. The very bottom of the prison pecking order, the ‘nonce’ is usually segregated from ordinary prisoners at all times for his own protection. Originally derived from ‘nancy-boy’. 1986Sunday Tel. 29 June 21/2 As what prisoners call a ‘nonce’, he now faces years of solitary confinement and regular assaults from fellow inmates.
▪ III. nonce
variant of nunce, nuncio. |