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I was surprised to learn that first dictionary definition of "anon" is "at another time". I challenge members to find a quote in which it has this meaning.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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How about this, Dr Bill, from Shakespeares Henry IV Part 2 where it is used twice within a few lines:
SILENCE Ah, sirrah! quoth-a, we shall Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer,
[Singing]
And praise God for the merry year; When flesh is cheap and females dear, And lusty lads roam here and there So merrily, And ever among so merrily.
FALSTAFF There's a merry heart! Good Master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.
SHALLOW Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.
DAVY Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon. Most sweet sir, sit. Master page, good master page, sit.
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Dear dxb: in my youth and inexperience, in both of those quotes I interpret both of those uses of "anon" as meaning "soon". Not "next week" or something.
P.S. I looked, but found no one else saying "I'll pay you anon." That could mean "when I find a gold mine."
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Well, I must agree that I haven't encountered it used to mean 'at another time' in the sense of a distant time.
Here's another example from William Morris's "The Well at the World's End":
"... because there was no man that beheld her, but anon he was the thrall of her love, and might not pluck his heart away from her to do any of the deeds whereby men thrive and win the praise of the people."
Anon refers to an indefinite time, but not too far ahead, the exact length of time depending on the context. I dare say one would expect that Shakespeare's servant would come to hand more quickly than Morris's swain would fall in love. (Mind you, I have felt myself growing older while waiting to be served in some restaurants.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Howdy, gents. Gurunet has: a·non (ə-nŏn') adv.
1. At another time; later. 2. In a short time; soon. 3. Archaic. At once; forthwith. idiom: ever (or now) and anon
Time after time; now and then.
[Middle English, at once, from Old English on ân : on, in; see on + ân, one.]
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Right, thanks Jackie. Shakespeare could have been using either meaning 2 or 3, Morris would have been using meaning 2. We still haven't found an example that is unequivocally using meaning 1.
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Carpal Tunnel
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1606 SHAKES. Ant. & Cl. II. vii. 45 Forbeare me till anon. 1610 Temp. II. ii. 84 Thou do'st me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon. 1656 COWLEY Mistress Wks. 1710 I. 124 Leading them still insensibly on By the strange Witchcraft of Anon. 1661 BOYLE Spring of Air I. ii. (1682) 3 The answering of this we shall suspend until anon. 1661 PEPYS Diary 15 Sept., To put things in order against anon for the buriall. 1719 D'URFEY Pills (1872) IV. 352 Take not the first Refusal ill, Tho' now she wont, anon she will. 1858 SEARS Athan. vii. 59 We dream now, we shall wake anon.
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Dear tsuwm: some very good examples that do indeed mean an appreciable postponement. As a feeble jest, one of them seems to the work of Anonymous: "Leading them still insensibly on By the strange Witchcraft of Anon. 1661 "
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Carpal Tunnel
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feeble indeed; the date 1661 belongs with the next citation; the quote belongs to Cowley (1656), from his poem Against Hope. http://www.bartleby.com/105/136.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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By the strange Witchcraft of Anon.Ha! Edit: tsuwm, you must have left your sense of humor in your *other suit.
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