anon

See also: Anon, ânon, and anon.

English

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒn
• Hyphenation: a‧non

Adverb

anon (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Straight away; at once.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 2

     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 964384981, 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 18584211M:

     […] 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.

3. At another time; then; again.
   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venvs and Adonis, London: Imprinted by Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078; Shakespeare’s Venvs & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, OCLC 19803734:

     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...

   • 1906, O. Henry, A Cosmopolite in a Café:

     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

straightway, at once

• French: tout de suite (fr), tantôt (fr) (Québec)

  Middle French: tantost

• German: sofort (de)
• Interlingue: strax (ie), bentost (ie)
• Russian: то́тчас (ru) (tótčas)

soon, in a little while

• German: bald (de)
• Interlingue: depoy
• Portuguese: em breve (pt)

• Russian: ско́ро (ru) (skóro), вско́ре (ru) (vskóre)

Etymology 2

From anonymous, by shortening

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /əˈnɒn/

Noun

anon (plural anons)

1. An anonymous person, especially an author.
   • 1904, Thomas Wright, The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, vol. 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)

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.

Translations

anonymous person

• Italian: anonimo (it)

• Russian: ано́н (ru) (anón)

Adjective

anon (not comparable)

1. anonymous

Related terms

• anonym
• anonymal
• anonymity
• anonymize
• anonymosity
• anonymous
• anonymously
• anonymousness

Anagrams

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

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Esperanto

Noun

anon

1. accusative singular of ano

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Finnish

Pronunciation

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

Noun

anon

1. Genitive singular form of ano.

Verb

anon

1. First-person singular present indicative form of anoa.

Anagrams

• nano-

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• onon, anan, onan

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, lines 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.