From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
whatever
adj : one or some or every or all without specification; "give me
any peaches you don't want"; "not any milk is left";
"any child would know that"; "pick any card"; "any day
now"; "cars can be rented at almost any airport"; "at
twilight or any other time"; "beyond any doubt"; "need
any help we can get"; "give me whatever peaches you
don't want"; "no milk whatsoever is left" [syn:
{any(a)}, whatsoever]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Whatever \What*ev"er\, pron.
Anything soever which; the thing or things of any kind; being
this or that; of one nature or another; one thing or another;
anything that may be; all that; the whole that; all
particulars that; -- used both substantively and adjectively.
[1913 Webster]
Whatever fortune stays from his word. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Whatever be its intrinsic value. --J. H.
Newman.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Whatever often follows a noun, being used elliptically.
"There being no room for any physical discovery
whatever" [sc. it may be]. --Whately.
[1913 Webster] Whatnot