pron., sb., adv.
1. pron. A combination of ANY and THING, in the widest sense of the latter, with all the varieties of sense belonging to ANY a. Orig. always separated; separation now usually denotes stress upon thing, as ‘any thing, but not any person.’
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John i. 46. Mæʓ æniʓ þing godes beon of nazareth. [So in Hatton.]
c. 1230. Ancr. R., 64. Wheðer ei þing hermeð more.
c. 1370. Wyclif, Wks., xxvi. (1880), 388. More sikirnes … may no man make of eny-þinge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XXI. 8895. I haue not errit in anythyng.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph. (1877), 32. Sweardes and kniues, beyng as sharpe as any thyng.
1611. Bible, John xiv. 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
1677. Yarranton, England’s Impr., 136. These Spouts convey the Corn into the Barges without anything of labour.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 1, ¶ 8. I would gratify my Reader in any Thing that is reasonable.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, II. 57. I fear your girl will grow as proud as anything.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone Lightho., § 100. When there is any thing of a ground swell.
a. 1855. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), I. v. 114. Anything in the remotest degree connected with Napoleon excites my curiosity.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. xii. 670. If the contest which ensued had been conducted with any thing approaching to moderation, the ultimate result would have been highly beneficial.
1873. ‘L. Carroll,’ Through Looking-Glass, iv. 73. They wept like anything to see Such quantities of sand.
2. as sb. Thing of any kind.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 234. She is my house … My horse, my oxe, my asse, my anything.
1649. Milton, Eikon., Wks. 1738, I. 383. This was that terrible Any-thing from which his Conscience and his Reason chose to run rather than not deny.
1736. Butler, Anal., Diss. i. 303. No Man, no Being,… no Any-thing.
3. adv. Any whit, in any measure, to any extent.
a. 700. Epinal Gl., 845 (Sweet). Quoquomodo, ængi þinga.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 38. 47. Til that the schadwe … passe ony-thyng owt of the cercle.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxv. 202. Yf my lady your wyf come ony thyng nyghe yowe.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, 16. Mine old good wil … is not … any thinge at all quayled.
1590. Plain Perc., 16. A Minister that hath any thing a fat benefice.
1656. H. Phillips, Purchaser’s Pattern (1676), 22. If he be anything young.
1861. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt. Part., III. clxx. 196. Not furious anything, either for good or evil, no enthusiasts.
