nonce
Pronunciation
  • enPR: nŏns, IPA: /nɒns/
    • (British) IPA: [nɒn(t)s]
    • (America) IPA: [nɑn(t)s]
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.
Translations
  • German: einmalig, Einmal-
  • Russian: да́нный слу́чай
Adjective

nonce (not comparable)

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

nonce (plural nonces)

  1. (British, slang, pejorative, prisons) A sex offender, especially one who is guilty of sexual offences against children.
    That bloke who lives at number 53 is a nonce!
  2. (British, slang) A stupid or worthless person.
    Shut it, ya nonce!
Translations


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