different between nonce vs nance

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)enPR: n?ns, IPA^(key): /n?ns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /n?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Etymology 1

From Middle English nonse, nones, a rebracketing of Middle English to þan anes, for þan anes (to/for the one (occasion, instance)). The cryptography sense is commonly said to be a contraction of number used once, although this is probably incorrect.

Noun

nonce (plural nonces)

1. The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose (now only in for the nonce).

   That will do for the nonce, but we'll need a better answer for the long term.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXX:

     [...] Dunce, / Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce, / After a life spent training for the sight!

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, chapter 6:

     'Idiot!' exclaimed the doctor, who for the nonce was not capable of more than such spasmodic attempts at utterance.

2. (lexicography) 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. (cryptography) A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent replay attacks.
   • 1999, Network Working Group, RFC 2617 – HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication, The Internet Society, page 22:

     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.

Derived terms

• for the nonce
• nonce borrowing
• nonce word

Translations

Adjective

nonce (not comparable)

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

Etymology 2

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.

Noun

nonce (plural nonces)

1. (Britain, derogatory) A sex offender, especially one who is guilty of sexual offences against children. [1975]
   • 1989 "assorted nonces, ponces and murderers, 'the worst men in the world' [...] on the nonce wing, where the child-killers, molesters and various perverts have to be protected from the other prisoners." (New Statesman, New Society, Volume 2, Statesman & Nation Publishing Company Limited)
2. (Britain, prison slang, derogatory) A police informer, one who betrays a criminal enterprise [2000]
3. (Britain, slang, derogatory) A stupid or worthless person. [2002]

   Shut it, ya nonce!

Translations

References

• T. Dalzell and T. Victor (eds.), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z, Taylor & Francis (2006), p. 1381.
• Alisa Stevens, Offender Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Communities, Routledge (2012), p. 174.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n??s/

Noun

nonce m (plural nonces)

1. nuncio

Further reading

• “nonce” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• conne

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From nancy. As a verb, cf. prance, dance, and mince.

Noun

nance (plural nances)

1. (slang) Alternative form of nancy: an effeminate male homosexual.
   • 1992, Leigh W. Rutledge, The gay decades: from Stonewall to the present

     "Fairies, nances, swishes, fags, lezzes — call 'em what you please — should of course be permitted to earn honest livings […]

Verb

nance (third-person singular simple present nances, present participle nancing, simple past and past participle nanced)

1. (uncommon, slang) To move in a prissy or stereotypically gay way.

   nancing around in tight pants

Further reading

• nance at OneLook Dictionary Search

Etymology 2

From Spanish nance

Noun

nance (plural nances)

1. A large shrub or small tree of subtropical and tropical areas of the Americas, Byrsonima crassifolia, bearing a small, sweet, yellow fruit.

Anagrams

• canne

Spanish

Etymology

From Classical Nahuatl nantzi.

Noun

nance m (plural nances)

1. a fruit tree of the species Byrsonima crassifolia in the acerola family
2. the fruit of this tree
3. a kind of coffee grown in Costa Rica