anon

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈnɑn/ enPR: ə-nŏn'
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈnɒn/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒn
• Hyphenation: a‧non

Etymology 1

From Middle English anoon, anon, anan (literally “in one (moment)”), from on (“in”) +‎ ān (“one”). See on and one.

Adverb

anon (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Straight away; at once.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Caliban: Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon,
     I know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 13:20:

     But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

   • 1866, Algernon Swinburne, After death, lines 47–50:

     The dead man answered thus:
     “What good gift shall God give us?”,
     The boards answered him anon:
     “Flesh to feed hell's worm upon.”

2. Soon; in a little while.
   • 1598, John Stow, A Suruay of London, →OL:

     […] for as much as the same consisteth not in the extreames, but in a verie mediocritie of wealth and riches, as it shall better appeare anone.

   • 1913 August, Jack London, John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, pages 12–13:

     With this man this is the hour of the white logic (of which more anon), when he knows that he may know only the laws of things—the meaning of things never.

3. At another time; then; again.
   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: Richard Field, , →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: , 4th edition, London: J M Dent and Co. , 1896, →OCLC:

     Sometimes he trots, as if he told the steps,
     With gentle majesty and modest pride;
     Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,
     As who should say, lo! thus my strength is try'd...

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “A Cosmopolite in a Café”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 27:

     Anon he would be telling you of a cold he acquired in a Chicago lake breeze and how old Escamila cured it in Buenos Ayres with a hot infusion of the chuchula weed.

Derived terms

• ever and anon
• still and anon

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of anonymous.

Noun

anon (plural anons)

1. An anonymous person, especially an author.
   • 1904, Thomas Wright, The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, volume 1, page 94:

     Indeed they did all they could to avoid it, coyly hiding their identities behind initials, asterisks, and anons

   • 1940, Virginia Woolf, Anon:

     Every body shared in the emotion of Anons [sic] song .... Anon is sometimes man, sometimes woman....

   • 2004, Jane Milling, Peter Thomson, Joseph W. Donohue, Baz Kershaw, The Cambridge History of British Theatre, page 207:

     Indeed, virtually every known playwright (and probably most of those 'anons') occupied some position in one or more of the patronage networks

   • 2006, J. Michael Walton, Found in Translation: Greek Drama in English, page 185:

     those identified by initials only and the 'Anons' (some of whom are here unmasked)

   1. (Internet) An anonymous poster (“person who contributes a note, message, etc”). A participant in an online site, such as a forum or an imageboard, without an account, or who posts without identifying themselves, or hidden behind a pseudonym.
2. A work with an unknown author.
   • 1984, Helen Hooven Santmyer, "...And Ladies of the Club", page 214:

     On the floor again she came upon a couple of "Anons" and frowned at them: Ought We to Visit Her and Cast Away in The Cold. Those would certainly do very well on the top shelf.

3. A work without a title.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

anon (not comparable)

1. Short for anonymous.

Derived terms

Related terms

Anagrams

• 'onna, Nona, OANN, Onan, nano, nano-, nona-, onna

Esperanto

Noun

anon

1. accusative singular of ano

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑnon/,
• Rhymes: -ɑnon
• Syllabification^(key): a‧non

Noun

anon

1. genitive singular of ano

Verb

anon

1. first-person singular present indicative of anoa

Anagrams

• nano-

Middle English

Alternative forms

• anan, anone, anoon, onan, onon

Etymology

From Old English on ān, equivalent to on + an.

Adverb

anon

1. anon (straight away, at once)
2. continually, on and on
3. all the way
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, line LINES:

     So hadde I spoken with hem everichon / That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,

     So had I spoken with them, every one, / That I was of their fellowship anon,

Descendants

• English: anon
• Scots: on-ane, one-ane, onan

References

• “an-ōn, adv. & conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.