anything

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• pronoun Any object, occurrence, or matter whatever.
• adverb To any degree or extent; at all.
• noun Something or someone of importance.
• idiom (anything but) By no means; not at all.
• idiom (anything goes) Anything is permissible or likely to be tolerated.
• idiom (like anything) To an exceeding degree.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Any whit; in any degree; to any extent; at all.
• A thing, indefinitely; something or other, no matter what: opposed to nothing: as, have you anything to eat? I do not see anything; give me anything.
• [From its indeterminate signification, anything is often used colloquially in comparisons, as emphatically comprehensive of whatever simile may suggest itself or be appropriate, especially in the comparative phrases as… as anything, like anything, equivalent to ‘exceedingly,’ ‘greatly.’

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; thing of any kind; something or other; aught.
• noun Colloq. or Lowx Expressing an indefinite comparison; -- with as or like.
• noun not at all or in any respect.
• noun in any respect; at all.
• adverb In any measure; anywise; at all.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adverb In any way, any extent or any degree.
• pronoun Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; thing of any kind; something or other; aught.
• pronoun with “as” or “like” Expressing an indefinite comparison.
• noun Someone or something of importance.