See Also:

anything (iou)



anything pronoun, adverb, & noun. Orig. two words. OE.
[from ANY + THING noun1.]
A. pronoun. Something, no matter what; whatever thing. OE.
anything but colloq. by no means, on the contrary. anything in TROUSERS. (as) as anything colloq. extremely . if anything if in any degree, perhaps even. like anything colloq. to a great extent etc.; exceedingly. too for anything colloq. extremely . try anything once: see TRY verb. would give anything: see GIVE verb.
E. Waugh 'Anything wrong?' he asked. Irving Berlin Anything you can do I can do better. Day Lewis I have never been anything but a poor sight-reader.
b. adverb. In any measure; to any extent. arch. OE.
C. noun. A thing of any kind. L16.
Shakespeare Taming of Shrew She is my house,..my ox, my ass, my any thing.
anything'arian noun (contempt.) a person who professes no creed in particular E18.