Definition of "only"

The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. Only the city zoo offers greater species diversity.

2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects […]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32

Motley's the only wear.

1623, William Shakespeare, As You Like It

The baron had taken a great liking to the Americans and to their ways of doing things, and frequently asserted that America was the only place to live.

1888, United States. Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, page 316

"People say there's other games," Jack had said to Cassie at Small Falls earlier that day. "But baseball's the only game."

2015, Mike Lupica, The Only Game, pages 58–59

To DAD ¶ who only reared twelve children ¶ and ¶ To MOTHER ¶ who reared twelve only children

1949, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, dedication

I know some who wittingly have drawne both profit and preferment from cuckoldrie, the only name whereof is so yrksome and bail-ful to so many men.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6

To DAD / who only reared twelve children / and / To MOTHER / who reared twelve only children

1949, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, dedication

‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess‎

[…] oot of a' six suspects there's not one that's been proved to ha' been nigh the place where the corpse was found, only Mr Graham.

1931, Dorothy L Sayers, chapter 24, in The Five Red Herrings

Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70

Only yesterday did I feed you with bread for your bodies; today I offer you the bread of life for your hungry souls.

c. 1924-1955, anonymous, The Urantia Book

The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).

2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.

2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎

his most only elected mistress

1604 (date written), Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], Parasitaster, or The Fawne, […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for W[illiam] C[otton], published 1606, (please specify the page)

[…] and pleasant it was, only for the dust.

1664 April 22, The Diary of Samuel Pepys

And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Exodus 8:28

Sometimes, secondborns marry onlys and the conflicts are similar.

1995, Don Martin, Maggie Martin, Pat Jeffers, Is Your Family Making You Fat?, page 101

The consistent finding […] that infants who are onlies do not differ from those who have siblings despite their lesser history of exposure to differential treatment is perplexing.

2013, Sybil L. Hart, Maria Legerstee, Handbook of Jealousy

And in 2016, researchers in China took MRI brain scans and found that, compared with kids with siblings, onlies showed greater flexibility—a measurement of creativity—but lower agreeableness.

2022 November 1, Chiara Dello Joio, “Why Are People Weird About Only Children?”, in The Atlantic‎