any, a. and pron.
(ˈɛnɪ)
Forms: 1–3 æniᵹ, æni, 2 anyᵹ, eini, eani, 3 æniȝ, aniȝ, ænie, 2–6 eni, 3–7 ani, 3–6 anie, eny, 4 enye, anye, 6 anny, 4– any; 4– ony(e, onie. Contracted: 2–3 ei, 3 æi, eie, æie.
[OE. ǽniᵹ, cogn. w. OS. ênig, OFris. ênich, ienig, OHG. einîc, mod.G. einig. Du. eenig, f. án one (in umlaut ǽn) + -iᵹ, -ig, adj. ending (see -y1), here perhaps diminutive; cf. L. ullus = unulus. Of the ME. forms, eny, ei, seem to have been southern, any midl., ony midl. and northern. The living word in mod.Eng. is eny. Fem. and pl. forms in -e existed in ME.; the word is now invariable, even pronominally.]
Primarily adj., but also from the earliest period used absol. or pronominally both in sing. and pl.
I. simple adj.
1. gen. An indeterminate derivative of one, or rather of its weakened adj. form a, an, in which the idea of unity (or, in plural, partitivity) is subordinated to that of indifference as to the particular one or ones that may be selected. In sing. = A ― no matter which; a ― whichever, of whatever kind, of whatever quantity. In pl. = Some ― no matter which, of what kind, or how many. a. Its primary use is in interrogative, hypothetical, and conditional forms of speech, as ‘Has any Englishman seen it?’ i.e. an Englishman ― I care not which; ‘if it do any harm,’ i.e. harm, no matter of what kind.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John iv. 33 Hwæðer æniᵹ man him mete brohte. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 33 Ȝif eani mon bið inumen. Ibid. 121 Lokiað hweðer enies monnes sar beo iliche mine sare. Ibid. 201 Hwi luue ich ei þing bute þe one? c 1220 Ibid. 189 Al þet ich abbe..wiþ eini lim mis ifeled. c 1200 Ormin 4423 Off aniȝ ifell wille. 1205 Lay. 4270 Ȝef æi mon him liðere dude. Ibid. 8287 Þurh æni cræft [1250 eni craft]. c 1230 Ancr. R. 124 Ȝif ei mon oðer ei wummon..misdeð ou. 1340 Ayenb. 49 Huanne þe man heþ uelaȝrede myd enye wyfmane. 1366 Mandeville 32 Ȝif ony man do thereinne ony maner metalle. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. ii. 8 If eny man can be sikir for eny tyme. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxii. 251 By hym or by ony other. 1535 Coverdale Gal. vi. 1 Yf eny man be ouertaken of a faute. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 19 If any Siracusian borne Come to the Bay of Ephesus, he dies. 1611 Bible Ps. iv. 6 Who wil shew vs any good? 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 37 The best governed country of which he had any knowledge. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. Part. III. cxvii. 54 Was there any the slightest indication? |
b. With a preceding negative (explicit or implicit) it denies of a person or thing, without limitation as to which, and thus, constructively, of every being or thing of the kind. It thus becomes an emphatic negative, with its unqualified or uncompromising scope brought into prominence; = None at all; none of any kind, quantity, or number, even the minutest; not even one; as ‘I could not think of any thing else,’ ‘he was forbidden to enter any house,’ ‘to prevent any loss.’
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark xi. 16 He ne ᵹeþafode þæt æniᵹ man æniᵹ fæt ðurh þam templ bære. 1205 Lay. 31209 Nas hit nauere isæid..þat æuer ær weore æi swa muchel ferde..þurh ænie king to-gadere. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xix, Neuere save in late daies was eny clok telling þe houris. 1509 Fisher Wks. i. 2, I shall not declare vnto you ony parte of the epystle. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. Ded., We present not these as any strange sight. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 503 ¶2 The Offence does not come under any law. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 23 It ought not to be done at any time. 1870 Nicholson Zool. (1880) 463 In..fish there is never any breast-bone. |
c. In affirmative sentences it asserts concerning a being or thing of the sort named, without limitation as to which, and thus constructively of every one of them, since every one may in turn be taken as a representative: thus ‘any chemist will tell you’; ‘anything that I can do is at your service’; ‘you may have anything almost for the asking.’
| a 1300 Cursor M. 700 Þe nedder..was more wise þen any beest. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xiv. 79 Hit is ful hard to ony creature to maken declaracion. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 67 Mantua's law Is death to any he that vtters them. 1598 ― Merry W. i. i. 11 Any time these three hundred yeeres. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 67 The Director was consulted by him upon any Difficulty. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 26 That enable any person to give an answer to any question. 1861 Buckle Civilis. II. vi. 589, I challenge any one to contradict my assertion. |
d. at any rate, in any case: whatever may be the circumstances; at all events.
| 1847 Helps Friends in C. Ser. i. (1857) II. 53 Which they at any rate were not good enough for. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. vii, But, in any case, hast thou not still Preaching enough? |
e. any old: any{ddd}whatever. any old how: see anyhow. (Cf. old a.) slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1896 Ade Artie xviii. 171 Any old farmer..could buy up him and a hundred more like him. 1911 R. W. Chambers Common Law ii. 63 ‘Would you like to have a chance to study?’..‘Study? What?’ ‘Sculpture—any old thing!’ 1916 ‘B. Cable’ Doing their Bit ii. 23 Mails take any old time to do their journey. 1918 W. J. Locke Rough Road v, Mate, Bill, Joe—any old name. 1940 War Illustr. 12 Jan. p. ii/2 It is just one man's reactions to circumstances of the moment and his thoughts on ‘any old thing’. 1958 B. Hamilton Too Much Water iv. 78 His steward..just shoves some fruit in his cabin, any old time. |
2. a. With a specially quantitative force = A quantity or number however great or small. (When unemphatic, expressed in French by the partitive article du, de la, des.) ‘Have you any milk, any eggs?’ But not in affirmative sentences, as ‘any milk will do,’ i.e. any sort of milk: see sense 3.
| 1526 Tindale Luke xxiv. 41 Haue ye here eny meate? [So in Cranmer, Genev., and 1611; Wyclif, ony thing that schal be eten, Rhem., any thing to be eaten.] 1660 Boyle New Exper. Phys.-Mech. i. 21 Whil'st there is any plenty of Air in the Receiver. 1711 Lond. Gaz. mmmmdccclxiii/4 Very little if any white about him. 1854 Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 507 Whilst any lead..remains to be removed. |
b. A large or considerable (number, quantity, etc.). colloq.
| 1861 O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 26 In the woods near us we found any quantity of grapes and chinquapins. 1862 Ibid. 50 We cut down any number of the poles. 1876 Coursing Calendar 125 Irish Nell led any number of lengths. |
3. With a specially qualitative force: Of any kind or sort whatever; = earlier anykins. Often depreciatory: Any, however imperfect. Cf. anybody 2 b, anything 2, anyway 2.
| 1866 Ruskin Cr. Wild Olive 98 This place..this moorland torrent-bitten, snow-blighted; this any place where God lets down the ladder. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Organ. 2 The danger is..that any reform should be adopted because some reform is required. |
II. absolutely, etc.
4. a. absol. esp. when the substantive to which it refers has been already expressed, or when it is followed by of, as ‘any of these books, any of the liquid.’
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 65 Ȝif eni us misdoð awiht. Ibid. 35 Ga..þer eni of þine cunne lið in. c 1220 Hali Meid. 33 Eni of his limen. 1340 Ayenb. 5 Ine enie of þe ilke hestes. 1382 Wyclif James i. 5 If ony of ȝou nedeth wisdom axe he of God. 1526 Tindale, ibid., If eny of you lacke wysdome. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. xlvi. 276 As excellent a lesson as a man shall read any. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 136 If there be any of him left, Ile bury it. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 154 ¶2 How do you know more than any of us? 1883 Scotsman 11 July 5/3 The mean temperature of the month was lower than any recorded since 1879. |
b. Colloq. phr. not having any (with verb ‘to be’): to want no part in something; to turn down a proposition or to reject an overture of friendship. Also, more positively, to refuse to tolerate a situation.
| 1902 J. Milne Epistles of Atkins ix. 166 A Boer cries to the trenches of the besieged, ‘Have you any whiskey?’ The cry back is ‘Yes’, and an invitation to call for it; but no, ‘he isn't having any’. 1918 Kipling Land & Sea Tales (1923) vii. 116 They tried to get into touch with the natives... But the natives weren't havin' any. They took to the bush. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Studies in Classic Amer. Lit. vii. 133 Hester urges Dimmesdale to go away with her, to a new country, to a new life. He isn't having any. 1943 J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxii. 177 They wanted me to be in it. But I wasn't having any, thanks. 1955 A. L. Rowse Expansion Eliz. England v. 171 Lady Mary Hastings was thought of for promotion to the bed of Ivan the Terrible. She was not having any. |
† 5. One of two things indifferently; either. (Obs., but still common in dialects, esp. north.)
| c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 233 If eny [v.r. any, ony] of us have more than other, Let him..part it with his brother. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 558 Eny of hem bothe. 1540 Coverdale Confut. Standish Wks. II. 381 Doth any of both these examples prove that, etc.? 1585 Thynne in Animadv. Introd. 78 Not at all..benefited by anie of them both. |
6. pronominally. = Any one, anybody; in pl. any persons.
| c 950 Lindisf. G. Mark xi. 16 And ne ᵹelefde þætte æniᵹ ofer⁓ferede fæt ðerh þam tempel. 1220 Ormin 9938 He nollde nohht þatt aniȝ shollde dwellenn. c 1230 Cott. Hom. 271 Is ani ricchere þen þu? 1297 R. Glouc. 376 Ȝyf þat eny hym wraþþede. 1472 Sir J. Paston in Lett. III. 65 Yit have I..nott lefte any at hys most neede. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 89 Please they any, That serue many? Nay. 1611 Bible 2 Pet. iii. 9 The Lord is..not willing that any should perish. 1705 Addison Italy Pref., [He] has wrote a more correct Account of Italy than any before him. 1821 Keats Lamia 389 Unknown..to any, but those two alone. |
7. a. adverbially, esp. with comparative adjs., as any sooner, any better: In any degree, to any extent, at all. (Cf. somewhat better, etc.) any more: see more adv. 4 a.
| c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 136 Or he come any nere [i.e. nearer]. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xix. 72 To presse me wyth wordes ony more. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 128 You are not to goe loose any longer. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 503 Few that do any more than profess it. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 154 ¶4 Before you go any farther. 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxx. (1857) 450 Having slept scarcely any all the night. c 1875 L. Stephen Hours Libr. Ser. i. 347 Few people..would be any the worse for the study. |
b. At all. (Without comparative adj. or adv.) dial. (occas. slang) and U.S.
| 1735 [see gentle v. 2 b]. 1780 S. Holten Jrnl. in Essex Inst. Coll. (1920) LVI. 96, I have not traveled any this day on account of my horses. 1817 Analectic Mag. (Philad.) IX. 437 (Th.), If our readers are any like ourselves, we think they cannot help laughing. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abroad iv. 45 It is a good tune—you can't improve it any. 1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.W. Linc. 7 He's not worked any sin' June. She can't sit up any. 1890 Kipling in Harper's Wkly. 22 Nov. 911/1 You don't want being made more drunk any. 1911 H. P. Fairchild Greek Immigr. to U.S. 101 Costa was not used to springs, and he did not mind this any. 1937 A. Christie Death on Nile xxv. 245 We're used to responsibility. Doesn't worry us any. 1958 Punch 17 Sept. 386/1 This couldn't have helped the Yogi any. |
8. any one. a. as adj. (ˌɛnɪˈwʌn). Any single or individual; b. absol. as in ‘any one of them’; c. pron. (ˈɛnɪwʌn). Anybody, any person; as in, Has any one heard of it? Did you meet any one? any one's (or anyone's) guess, etc.: see anybody 3.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr., Any one person. 1577 St. August. Manuell 19 Neither soule, flesh, nor reason can in any one thyng please thee. 1690 W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 26, I understand not any one word. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 104 ¶1 To be negligent of what any one thinks of you. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. i. 1 That any one district of Amsterdam was busier than another at any one hour. 1860 L. V. Harcourt Diaries G. Rose I. 4 He never abuses any one. 1958 N. F. Simpson Resounding Tinkle i. ii, in Observer Plays 240 How close we're getting to the original tonight is anyone's guess. |
9. In comb. with interrog. words, which then become indefinite: see anyhow, etc.