a. and pron. Forms: 1–3 æniʓ, æni, 2 anyʓ, eini, eani, 3 æniȝ, aniȝ, ænie, 2–6 eni, 3–7 ani, 3–6 anie, eny, 4 enye, anye, 6 anny, 4– any; 4– ony(e, onie. Contracted: 2–3 ei, 3 æi, eie, æie. [OE. ǽniʓ, cogn. w. OS. ênig, OFris. ênich, ienig, OHG. einîc, mod.G. einig, Du. eenig, f. án one (in umlaut ǽn) + -iʓ, -ig, adj. ending (see -Y1), here perhaps diminutive; cf. L. ullus = unulus. Of the ME. forms, eny, ei, seem to have been southern, any midl., ony midl. and northern. The living word in mod.Eng. is eny. Fem. and pl. forms in -e existed in ME.; the word is now invariable, even pronominally.]
Primarily adj., but also from the earliest period used absol. or pronominally both in sing. and pl.
I. simple adj.
1. gen. An indeterminate derivative of one, or rather of its weakened adj. form a, an, in which the idea of unity (or, in plural, partitivity) is subordinated to that of indifference as to the particular one or ones that may be selected. In sing. = A — no matter which; a — whichever, of whatever kind, of whatever quantity. In pl. = Some — no matter which, of what kind, or how many.
a. Its primary use is in interrogative, hypothetical and conditional forms of speech, as ‘Has any Englishman seen it?’ i.e., an Englishman—I care not which; ‘if it do any harm,’ i.e., harm, no matter of what kind.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John iv. 33. Hwæðer æniʓ man him mete brohte.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 33. Ȝif eani mon bið inumen. Ibid., 121. Lokiað hweðer enies monnes sar beo iliche mine sare. Ibid., 201. Hwi luue ich ei þing bute þe one? Ibid. (c. 1220), 189. Al þet ich abbe … wiþ eini lim mis ifeled.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4423. Off aniȝ ifell wille.
c. 1205. Lay., 4270. Ȝef æi mon him liðere dude. Ibid., 8287. Þurh ani cræft [1250 eni craft].
c. 1230. Ancr. R., 124. Ȝif ei mon oðer ei wummon … misdeð ou.
1340. Ayenb., 49. Huanne þe man heþ uelaȝrede myd enye wyfmane.
1366. Maundev., 32. Ȝif ony man do thereinne ony maner metalle.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. ii. 8. If eny man can be sikir for eny tyme.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxxii. 251. By hym or by ony other.
1535. Coverdale, Gal. vi. 1. Yf eny man be ouertaken of a faute.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 19. If any Siracusian borne Come to the Bay of Ephesus, he dies.
1611. Bible, Ps. iv. 6. Who wil shew vs any good?
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 37. The best governed country of which he had any knowledge.
1860. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt. Part., III. cxvii. 54. Was there any the slightest indication?
b. With a preceding negative (explicit or implicit) it denies of a person or thing, without limitation as to which, and thus, constructively, of every being or thing of the kind. It thus becomes an emphatic negative, with its unqualified or uncompromising scope brought into prominence; = None at all; none of any kind, quantity, or number, even the minutest; not even one; as ‘I could not think of any thing else,’ ‘he was forbidden to enter any house,’ ‘to prevent any loss.’
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mark xi. 16. He ne ʓeþafode þæt æniʓ man æniʓ fæt ðurh þam templ bære.
c. 1205. Lay., 31209. Nas hit nauere isæid … þat æuer ær weore æi swa muchel ferde … þurh ænie king to-gadere.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xix. Neuere save in late daies was eny clok telling þe houris.
1509. Fisher, Wks., I. 2. I shall not declare vnto you ony parte of the epystle.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., Ded. We present not these as any strange sight.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 503, ¶ 2. The Offence does not come under any law.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 23. It ought not to be done at any time.
1870. Nicholson, Zool. (1880), 463. In … fish there is never any breast-bone.
c. In affirmative sentences it asserts concerning a being or thing of the sort named, without limitation as to which, and thus constructively of every one of them, since every one may in turn be taken as a representative: thus ‘any chemist will tell you’; ‘anything that I can do is at your service’; ‘you may have anything almost for the asking.’
a. 1300. Cursor M., 700. Þe nedder … was more wise þen any beest.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xiv. 79. Hit is ful hard to ony creature to maken declaracion.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. i. 67. Mantua’s law Is death to any he that vtters them. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., I. i. 11. Any time these three hundred yeeres.
1699. Bentley, Phal., Pref. 67. The Director was consulted by him upon any Difficulty.
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, ii. 26. That enable any person to give an answer to any question.
1861. Buckle, Civiliz., II. vi. 589. I challenge any one to contradict my assertion.
d. At any rate, in any case: whatever may be the circumstances; at all events.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. I. (1857), II. 53. Which they at any rate were not good enough for.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. vii. But, in any case, hast thou not still Preaching enough?
2. With a specially quantitative force = A quantity or number however great or small. (When unemphatic, expressed in French by the partitive article du, de la, des.) ‘Have you any milk, any eggs?’ But not in affirmative sentences, as ‘any milk will do,’ i.e., any sort of milk: see next.
1526. Tindale, Luke xxiv. 41. Haue ye here eny meate? [So in Cranmer, Genev., and 1611; Wyclif, ony thing that schal be eten, Rhem., any thing to be eaten.]
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., i. 21. Whil’st there is any plenty of Air in the Receiver.
1711. Lond. Gaz., mmmmdccclxiii/4. Very little if any white about him.
1854. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem., 507. Whilst any lead … remains to be removed.
3. With a specially qualitative force: Of any kind or sort whatever; = earlier ANYKINS. Often depreciatory: Any, however imperfect. Cf. ANYBODY 2 b. ANYTHING 2, ANYWAY 2.
1866. Ruskin, Crown Wild Olive, 98. This place … this moorland torrent-bitten, snow-blighted; this any place where God lets down the ladder.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Organ., 2. The danger is … that any reform should be adopted because some reform is required.
II. absolutely, etc.
4. absol. esp. when the substantive to which it refers has been already expressed, or when it is followed by of, as ‘any of these books, any of the liquid.’
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 65. Ȝif eni us misdoð awiht. Ibid., 35. Ga … þer eni of þine cunne lið in.
c. 1220. Hali Meid., 33. Eni of his limen.
1340. Ayenb., 5. Ine enie of þe ilke hestes.
1382. Wyclif, James i. 5. If ony of ȝou nedeth wisdom axe he of God.
1526. Tindale, ibid. If eny of you lacke wysdome.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. xlvi. 276. As excellent a lesson as a man shall read any.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 136. If there be any of him left, Ile bury it.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 154, ¶ 2. How do you know more than any of us?
1883. Scotsman, 11 July, 5/3. The mean temperature of the month was lower than any recorded since 1879.
† 5. One of two things indifferently; either. (Obs., but still common in dialects, esp. north.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Friar’s T., 233. If eny [v.r. any, ony] of us have more than other, Let him … part it with his brother.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 558. Eny of hem bothe.
1540. Coverdale, Confut. Standish, Wks. II. 381. Doth any of both these examples prove that [etc.]?
1585. Thynne, in Animadv., Introd. 78. Not at all … benefited by anie of them both.
6. pronominally. = Any one, anybody; in pl. any persons.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xi. 16. And ne ʓelefde þætte æniʓ oferferede fæt ðerh þam tempel.
c. 1200. Ormin, 9938. He nollde nohht þatt aniȝ shollde dwellenn.
c. 1230. Cott. Hom., 271. Is ani ricchere þen þu?
1297. R. Glouc., 376. Ȝyf þat eny hym wraþþede.
1472. Sir J. Paston, in Lett., III. 65. Yit have I … nott lefte any at hys most neede.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 89. Please they any, That serue many? Nay.
1611. Bible, 2 Pet. iii. 9. The Lord is … not willing that any should perish.
1705. Addison, Italy, Pref. [He] has wrote a more correct Account of Italy than any before him.
1821. Keats, Lamia, 389. Unknown … to any, but those two alone.
7. adverbially, esp. with comparative adjs., as any sooner, any better: In any degree, to any extent, at all. (Cf. somewhat better, etc.)
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 136. Or he come any nere [i.e., nearer].
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xix. 72. To presse me wyth wordes ony more.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 128. You are not to goe loose any longer.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 503. Few that do any more than profess it.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 154, ¶ 4. Before you go any farther.
1834. H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xxx. (1857), 450. Having slept scarcely any all the night.
c. 1875. L. Stephen, Hours Libr., Ser. I. 347. Few people … would be any the worse for the study.
8. Any one. a. as adj. Any single or individual; b. absol. as in ‘any one of them’; c. pron. Anybody, any person; as in, Has any one heard of it? Did you meet any one?
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr. Any one person.
1577. St. August. Manuell, 19. Neither soule, flesh, nor reason can in any one thyng please thee.
1690. W. Walker, Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 26. I understand not any one word.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 104, ¶ 1. To be negligent of what any one thinks of you.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & S., i. 1. That any one district of Amsterdam was busier than another at any one hour.
1860. L. Harcourt, Diaries G. Rose, I. 4. He never abuses any one.
9. In comb. with interrog. words, which then become indefinite: see ANYHOW, etc.
