subs. (old colloquial).—An indifferentist; a JACK-OF-BOTH-SIDES. Hence ANYTHINGARIANISM = the creed of ‘all things to all men.’
d. 1704. T. BROWN, Works, iii. 97. Bifarious ANYTHINGARIANS, that always make their interest the standard of their religion.
1709. WARD, Terræ Filius, I. 23. Wonderful Benefit the Wavering ANYTHINGAREAN has at last reap’d by his long Inquiry.
1717. Entertainer, 6 Nov. [Notes and Queries, 7 S. vi. 66]. Nor, which is ten times worse, Free-thinkers, Atheists, ANYTHINGARIANS.
1718–10. SWIFT, Polite Conversation, i. Lady Sm. What religion is he of? Ld. Sp. Why, he is an ANYTHINGARIAN. Lady Ans. I believe he has his religion to chuse.
1850. C. KINGSLEY, Alton Locke, xxii. They made puir Robbie Burns an ANYTHINGARIAN with their blethers. Ibid. (1851), Life, i. 215. A tone of feeling very common, and which finds its vent in modern Neo-Platonism—ANYTHINGARIANISM.
