once
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: wŭn(t)s
ipa: /wʌn(t)s/
ipa: /wʌn(t)s/
ipa: /wɒn(t)s/
ipa: /wʌn(t)s/
rhymes: -ʌns
rhymes: -ɒns
rhymes: -ʌnts
rhymes: -ɒnts
Etymology: From Middle English ones, from Old English ānes, a remodelling (after ān (“one”)) of ǣnes, itself an extension of ǣne (“once”) with the genitive suffix -es. Compare Old Saxon ēnes (“once”), Old High German eines, einēst (“once”), modern German einst (“once”). More at one (including regarding the development of the pronunciation) and -s.
Senses: examples: text: I have only once eaten pizza.
synonyms: one time
qualifier: frequency
glosses: One and only one time.
examples: text: He was once the most handsome man around.
text: I once had a motorbicycle.
text: Once I didn't drive a big car, but now I own an all-terrain 4WD.
text: Wang notes that flowers have rooted and grow in the area once covered with ice.
text: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.
ref: 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:
text: Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
ref: 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
topics: temporal-location
time
glosses: Formerly; during some period in the past.
examples: text: The wisdom of God thought fit to acquaint David with that court which we shall once govern.
ref: 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in [Contemplations vpon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie], volume (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, →OCLC:
text: If the facts once became known, we'd be in trouble.
glosses: At any time; ever.
glosses: One day, someday.
examples: text: Once three is three.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Multiplied by one: indicating that a number is multiplied by one.
Synonyms: sense: formerly
word: formerly
word: once
word: oncet
word: yance
word: wunst
Coordinate terms: sense: one time
word: twice
sense: one time
word: thrice
sense: one time
word: often
sense: one time
word: never
sense: one time
word: seldom
sense: formerly
word: yesterday
sense: formerly
word: tomorrow
Derived terms: Christmas comes but once a year
don't spend it all at once
fool me once
for this once
once a man, twice a boy
once a man, twice a child
once a woman, twice a child
Once Brewed
once-in-a-generation
once-in-a-lifetime
onceness
once-off
once on a time
once-over-lightly
oncer
Oncer
Related terms: word: at once
word: for once
word: for once and for all
word: measure twice and cut once
word: not even once
word: once again
word: once more
word: once and again
word: once and away
word: once and for all
word: once for all
word: once in a blue moon
word: once in a purple moon
word: once in a way
word: once in a while
word: once more into the breach
word: once or twice
word: once over
word: once-over
word: once removed
word: once upon a time
word: once you go black
word: write once
word: you only go around once
word: you only go around once in life
word: you only live once
word: frequency