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nonce

noun
/nɒns/UK/nɑns/US/nɔns/

Etymology

1975. Unknown, derived from British criminal slang. Several origins have been proposed; possibly derived from dialectal nonce, nonse (“stupid, worthless individual”) (but this cannot be shown to predate nonce "child-molester" and is likely a toned-down usage of the same insult), or Nance, nance (“effeminate man, homosexual”), from nancy or nancyboy. The rhyme with ponce has also been noted. As prison slang also said to be an acronym for "Not On Normal Communal Exercise" (Stevens 2012), but this is likely a backronym.

  1. derived from to þen anes
  2. inherited from nonse

Definitions

  1. The one or single occasion

    The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose.

    • That will do for the nonce, but we'll need a better answer for the long term.
    • [...] Dunce, / Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce, / After a life spent training for the sight!
    • 'Idiot!' exclaimed the doctor, who for the nonce was not capable of more than such spasmodic attempts at utterance.

  2. A nonce word.

    • I had thought that the term was a nonce, but it seems as if it's been picked up by other authors.

  3. A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to…

    A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent replay attacks.

    • The protocol opens with A communicating in clear to AS his own claimed identity and the identity of the desired correspondent, B, together with A's nonce identifier for this transaction, I_(A1). ("Nonce" means "used only once.")
    • The information gained by the eavesdropper would permit a replay attack, but only with a request for the same document, and even that may be limited by the server's choice of nonce.
    • Both CCM and GCM require a unique nonce (N used once) value to maintain their privacy and authenticity goals.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. One-off

      One-off; produced or created for a single occasion or use. Denoting something occurring once.

      • But particular men are not stereotyped for jobs nor particular desks (as against others) to sit at - the standard here is nonce.
      • Dickinson's association of heliotrope with Mary Bowles was nonce and fleeting, but the subject of gardens was always a safe one on which to address her: “How is your garden – Mary? Are the Pinks true –?”
      • Poplack et al. (1988, 57) found that 65% of their types were nonce and only 7% of the types were considered widespread.

    2. A sex offender, especially one who is guilty of sexual offences against children.

    3. A pedophile.

      • ‘He's a nonce[. A] nonsense merchant, a paedophile[,’ Terry explained.]

    4. A police informer, one who betrays a criminal enterprise

    5. A stupid or worthless person.

      • Shut it, ya nonce!

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for nonce. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA