/nɒns/, /nɑns/, /nɔns/
OriginInherited from Middle English nonse, nones, a rebracketing of Middle English to þen anes, for þen anes (to/for the once (i.e., the one occasion or instance)), from the dative singular neuter of þe. The cryptography sense is commonly said to be a contraction of number used once, although this is probably incorrect.
- archaicThe 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.”
- 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.”
- 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). ("Non”
“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.”
- broadlyA pedophile.
“‘He's a nonce[. A] nonsense merchant, a paedophile[,’ Terry explained.]”
- not-comparableOne-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.”
Formsnonces(plural)