▪ I. nonsense, n.
(ˈnɒnsəns)
Also 7–8 -sence, 8 -scense.
[f. non- 2 + sense n. Cf. F. nonsens (from 12–13th c.).]
1. a. That which is not sense; spoken or written words which make no sense or convey absurd ideas; also, absurd or senseless action. to knock the nonsense out of: see knock v. 6 e.
Often used exclamatorily to express disbelief of, or surprise at, a statement.
| 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair iv. iv, Here they continue their game of vapours, which is Nonsense. a 1643 Visct. Falkland, etc. Infallibility (1646) 121 You leave out those words..and so make non-sence of that period. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 222 For learned Nonsense has a deeper Sound, Than easy Sense, and goes for more profound. 1707 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvi. 33, I understand architecture so little, that I am afraid of talking nonsense in endeavouring to speak of it particularly. 1711 Addison Spect. No 35 ¶1 If they speak Nonsense, they believe they are talking Humour. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 17 This doctrine..either is nonsense, and therefore neither true nor false, or it affirms a most..dangerous..position. 1816 Scott Antiq. xiii, Come, let us have no more of this nonsense. 1859 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871) II. 345, I am writing nonsense, but it is because no sense within my mind will answer the purpose. 1894 Fenn In Alpine Valley I. 28 ‘You are not [dying], John dear. It's all stuff and nonsense,’ said the little lady. |
b. In particularized use: A piece of nonsense; also
concr. and
= a muddle, fiasco,
esp. in
phr. to make a nonsense (of).
| a 1643 Visct. Falkland, etc. Infallibility (1646) 98 Every new nonsense will be more acceptable..then any old sense. 1655 tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion ii. 36 He understood not French very well, nor I his Fustian Language, so our discourse was a perpetuall Nonsense. 1803 Scott Let. 14 Sept. (1932) I. 204, I daresay I shall go on scribbling one nonsense or another to the end of the chapter. 1942 E. Waugh Put Out More Flags iii. 212 Everyone said, ‘Lyne made a nonsense of the embarkation.’ Ibid. 242 ‘It was all rather a nonsense’ said the subaltern, in the classic phraseology of his trade which comprehends all human tragedy. 1957 Listener 30 May 873 Size is essential for efficiency. A small steel works..is an economic nonsense. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices ii. i. 71 He's made a complete nonsense of the whole thing and got the sack. Ibid. vi. 135, I knew you'd make a nonsense of it so I told Wallis to be ready to take over. 1962 Movie June 6/2 Ambitious nonsenses like The Entertainer and Flame in the Streets. 1966 A. Prior Operators xv. 225 An occasion that could make a nonsense of any Op. Bad intelligence, weather, flak. 1970 New Statesman 16 Jan. 88/3 ‘Structure’ is one of those useful nonsenses in the vocabulary of the fiction critic, the mystery ingredient with the secret formula. |
c. no nonsense: no foolish or extravagant conduct; no foolery or humbug. Chiefly in
phr. stand no nonsense (also used as
adj.).
| 1821 Sporting Mag. VIII. 233 Smith would stand no nonsense. 1836 Sir G. Stephen Search of a Horse i. (1841) 4 There was ‘no nonsense about him’ [sc. a horse],..but he unluckily moved like a castle! 1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies ii, Mr. Ogilvie would allow ‘no nonsense’ of late rising. 1904 Sladen Lovers Japan xiii, Rich was the only stand-no-nonsense Englishman of the lot. |
d. Used,
usu. in the spelling
non-sense, without connotations of absurdity: something that is not sense or that differs from sense.
Not clearly separable from sense 1 a.
| 1942 T. S. Eliot Music of Poetry 14 His [sc. Lear's] non⁓sense is not vacuity of sense: it is a parody of sense, and that is the sense of it. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 221 Men struggle over non-sense questions. 1965 English Studies XLVI. 322 A ‘steep ford’ is quite obvious non⁓sense. |
2. Absurdity, nonsensicalness.
| 1630 W. Bedell in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 421, I shewed the false Latin, Non-sence, injustice of it. 1660 T. Pierce Inq. Nat. Sin To Rdr. marg., Compare the non-sense with the impiety of the expression. 1841 L. Hunt Seer ii. 2/1 The nonsense of ill-will. |
3. Unsubstantial or worthless stuff or things.
| 1638 Cowley Love's Riddle iv. Wks. 1711 III. 113 Our Desires..are Love's Nonsence, wrapt up in thick Clouds. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche v. i, What royal Nonsence is a Diadem Abroad, for One who's not at home supreme? 1687 Norris Coll. Misc. 24, I find This busie World is Non-sense all. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 2 Feb. 12/1 Six dollars a week for slippers, and three more for ‘ribbons and bits of chiffon nonsense’. |
4. A meaning that makes no sense.
| 1650 Weekes Truth's Conflict i. 11 This is to put a nonsense upon the place, and to destroy the savor that is in it. 1711 Pope Lett. (1735) I. 166 How easy it is to a Caviller to give a new Sense, or a new Nonsence to any thing. |
† 5. Want of feeling or physical sensation.
Obs.| 1621 in T. Bedford The Sinne, etc. A i b, Disquietnesse of Conscience [growes] into a numbdnesse or non-sense. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. gen. nonsense-proof adj.,
nonsense talker,
nonsense-writer;
nonsense-book, a book of nonsense or nonsense verses;
nonsense-name (see
quot.);
nonsense syllable, a syllable formed by putting a vowel between any two consonants, used in memory experiments and tests;
nonsense verses, verses consisting of words and phrases arranged solely with reference to the metre and without regard to the sense; also
nonsense song, etc.; also
nonsense verse, comically nonsensical or whimsical verse;
spec. a limerick;
nonsense word, a word which has no accepted meaning; also
= nonsense syllable.
| 1887 Spectator 17 Sept. 1251 Lear's *Nonsense Books. |
| 1842 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 118 *Nonsense names.—Some authors..have adopted the plan of coining words at random without any derivation or meaning whatever. |
| 1778 Love Feast 12 Led by the Spirit to John's pantil'd Roof, Which many a vagrant Paul makes *Nonsense-Proof. |
| 1871 E. Lear (title), *Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets. 1968 Radio Times 28 Nov. 65/2 A nonsense song from Virginia, ‘Poor Howard’. 1975 Listener 6 Mar. 305/2 When Charlie finally opened his mouth in Modern Times, out came a nonsense song no one needed to understand. |
| 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xvi. 667 Mr. Burnham..suggested..one ought to test one's self à la Ebbinghaus on series of *nonsense-syllables. 1924 R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind i. 29 Impressing certain material (preferably nonsense-syllables in an ordered series)..upon the observer. 1971 Jrnl. General Psychol. LXXXV. 139 Ss were allowed to work 10 nonsense-syllable examples. |
| a 1832 Bentham Deontol. ii. (1834) I. 26 The moralist..would call his enemy..hypocrite, and *nonsense-talker. |
| 1799 Public Characters II. 423 Although few men in England could equal him in writing sense prose, yet many boys might surpass him in writing *nonsense verses. 1819 Keats Let. 17 Sept. (1931) II. 438, I cannot get on without writing as boys do at school a few nonsense verses. 1830 Coleridge Table-t. 5 Oct., I did not seem much interested with a piece of Rossini's, which had just been performed. I said, it sounded to me like nonsense verses. 1851 [see amphigouri, -gory]. 1870 Spectator 26 Dec. 30 Mere musical sounds are no other than nonsense verses are in poetry. 1898 [see limerick]. 1938 A. Davidson Edward Lear ii. 18 It is possible that these extemporized nonsense-verses were in the limerick form. 1940 Essays & Studies XXV. 7 The nonsense verse also was well worth having—who had believed, else, that Housman had it in him either to be happy or to write nonsense. |
| 1919 J. B. Watson Psychology ix. 336 *Non⁓sense words or syllables are made by separating two consonants with a vowel as ver, gax and moc. 1935 B. Malinowski in M. Black Importance of Lang. (1962) 72 Have we to imagine that magical speech starts from sheer non⁓sense words..? 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring i. vi. 130 Out of a long string of nonsense-words (or so they seemed) the voice rose up loud and clear and burst into this song. |
| 1887 Spectator 17 Sept. 1251 The parent of modern *nonsense-writers. |
b. That is nonsense; full of nonsense;
† in the 17th c. often used as
adj. = Nonsensical.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iv. i. v. (1651) 375 A few simples well..understood are better than such an heap of nonsense confused compounds. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iv. §47. 217 Some empty unintelligible non-sense distinction. 1642 Rogers Naaman 191 Put case the way of washing in Jordan bee irrationall and non-sense to thy wit and reason. 1757 Foote Author i. (1782) 23 You are a Non-sense man, and I won't agree to any such Thing. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw II. 127 This is not a nonsense letter—will you read it, mother? 1862 Palgrave in Times 15 May, A learned mockery, a nonsense sculpture. |
c. Biol. Denoting a codon that does not specify any amino-acid, or a mutation which gives rise to such a codon (and may thus prematurely bring about a blocking of polypeptide synthesis).
| [1957 F. H. C. Crick et al. in Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLIII. 418 We shall assume that there are certain sequences of three nucleotides with which an amino acid can be associated and certain others for which this is not possible. Using the metaphors of coding, we say that some of the 64 triplets make sense and some make non⁓sense.] 1961 [see missense a.]. 1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. xii. 318 They then calculated that the sixty-four triplets could be divided..into two classes, with twenty meaningful triplets in one class and forty-four nonsense triplets in the other. 1969 A. M. Campbell Episomes ix. 122 Nonsense mutations of lacZ..produce reduced levels of the permease coded by lacY. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IV. 464/2 It is now known that there may be several codes for one amino acid and that there are nonsense codes that do not code anything. |
Hence
† nonsensely adv., nonsensically.
| 1656 Duchess of Newcastle Nature's Picture xi. Epistle, Others in one discourse speak mixtly, now rational, then nonsensely. |
▪ II. nonsense, v. rare.
(
ˈnɒnsəns)
[f. the n.] intr. To talk nonsense.
| 1822 M. Edgeworth Let. 30 May (1971) 404 We have given most elegant repasts as I shall have the honor of describing to you soon when we are all together nonsenseing round Lucys sofa. 1909 R. A. Wason Happy Hawkins 67, I nonsensed a while, tryin' to get her to laugh an' cut up, but not her. |