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any thing whatever; something, no matter what:
Do you have anything for a toothache?
a thing of any kind.
in any degree; to any extent; in any way; at all:
Does it taste anything like chocolate?
anything but, in no degree or respect; not in the least:
The plans were anything but definite.
anything goes, any type of conduct, dress, speech, etc., is considered acceptable or valid or is likely to be encountered and tolerated:
That resort is a place where anything goes!
Contemporary Examples

If you try to do anything else first, an emergency could end up wrecking it.
How to Save it and Where Megan McArdle February 18, 2013

anything bad you say about Audra now is stabbing your fellow YR’s in the back!
Inside the Young GOP’s Civil War John Avlon July 14, 2009

The conclusions of Coming Apart are pure dogma, not only unsupported but even unrelated to anything that went before.
Social Science Minus the Science David Frum February 7, 2012

No non-trivial action has literally zero effect on anything in the universe.
How Not to Cherry-Pick the Results of the Oregon Study (Ultrawonkish) Megan McArdle May 12, 2013

Not to generalize or anything, but in our very limited world, it seems like everyone drinks (or at one point has drunk) vodka.
Lights, Camera, Cocktails Brody Brown October 28, 2011

Historical Examples

Now, just imagine if you said anything of that sort to the Wilcoxes.
Howards End E. M. Forster

Besides, I never felt contempt for anything to which the gods had given life.
Philothea Lydia Maria Child

Just pass it over lightly if they ask you anything about it.
The Story of a Play W. D. Howells

But this slab of black basalt was different from anything that had ever been discovered.
Ancient Man Hendrik Willem van Loon

But this sacrifice of American youth did not make the world safe for anything.
The Invisible Government Dan Smoot

pronoun
any object, event, action, etc, whatever: anything might happen
noun
a thing of any kind: have you anything to declare?
adverb
in any way: he wasn’t anything like his father
anything but, by no means; not in the least: she was anything but happy
like anything, (intensifier; usually euphemistic): he ran like anything
n.

late Old English aniþing, from any + thing. But Old English ænig þinga apparently also meant “somehow, anyhow” (glossing Latin quoquo modo).

anything but
anything goes
anything like

also see:

can’t do anything with
if anything
like anything
not anything like