Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The present or particular occasion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- A word of no independent status, used only in the following phrases.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The one or single occasion; the present call or purpose; -- chiefly used in the phrase for the nonce, i. e. for the present time.
- noun “a word apparently employed only
for the nonce ”.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The one or single
occasion ; the present reason or purpose (now only infor the nonce ). - noun lexicography A
nonce word . - noun computing A
number , usually generatedrandomly or from thetime , used once in acryptographic protocol , to preventreplay attacks . - adjective denoting something occurring once.
- noun UK, slang, pejorative A
sex offender , especially of children; apaedophile . - noun UK, slang A
stupid orworthless person. - noun cryptography A datum constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent
replay attacks . - noun cryptography In a security engineering context, a value used only once.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the present occasion
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term nonce sometimes spelled "nonse" is a slang word used to refer to a sex offender and/or child sexual abuser.
On a child's view of English DC 2009
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Garman for the nonce was the courtier, the artistic idler, the dilettante in the art of luxurious living; and Payne, conscious of his dirt-smudged overalls, envied him the elegance with which he played the rôle.
The Plunderer Henry Oyen 1902
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Jap cartoons are fcuking weird anyway. true but should you be labelled a nonce for looking at a cartoon No victim = no crime?
Army Rumour Service 2010
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Jap cartoons are fcuking weird anyway. true but should you be labelled a nonce for looking at a cartoon Steven:
Army Rumour Service 2010
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They might best be called nonce usages, intended for a particular occasion with only a remote or vague connection with the original meaning of the word.
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‘uprest’ (“Revolt of Islam”, 3 21 5), which has been described as a nonce-word deliberately coined by Shelley ‘on no better warrant than the exigency of the rhyme.’
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These people are not only in prison, but as convicted child molesters occupy the lowest, most despised niche in prison society - the 'nonce'.
Archive 2004-02-01 Laban 2004
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These people are not only in prison, but as convicted child molesters occupy the lowest, most despised niche in prison society - the 'nonce'.
UK Commentators Laban 2004
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Hmm, "nonce," "chiaroscuro," and "purlieu" were the only ones I knew -- and I agree with elck that 3 out of 18 definitely equates to duncehood.
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As I said in my post, these are "words you'll never have a use for," and I'd be outraged if someone used them on an actual vocabulary test in a school, say -- aside from "nonce" and maybe "chiaroscuro," there's no particular reason to know them.
bilby commented on the word nonce
British slang - paedophile.
March 19, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word nonce
British prison slang. Paedophile or any sex offender.
June 18, 2008
asativum commented on the word nonce
Brings a whole new, unpleasant meaning to the phrase, "for the nonce".
October 1, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word nonce
Oh dear. Yes it does.
October 1, 2008
mjt commented on the word nonce
I had this meaning in mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonce_word
December 9, 2009
5814738 commented on the word nonce
"But for the nonce she only stood there, biting her lower lip." From Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.
January 11, 2011