You may be interested to know that 'nonce' is a very common and contemporary word used among the criminal classes of the UK to describe a sexual deviant e.g. paedophiles etc., especially in prison parlance. This would give a rather different slant on your quote "I pursed my lips and set aside my thirst for the nonce.

Wow. Just wow. Now I am envisioning the culture of underworld UK as entirely Shakespeare-driven. Bragging blackhearts toasting comely wenches, eating apricocks and waxing bear-a-brain. It's a dream come true...

Any idea how that meaning of nonce came about? Er, setting aside the theory that "the Complete Works of Shakespeare" is suddenly the most popular book in the prison library.

I'm wondering if the word is really "nance" but pronounced as some might spell "nonce".