What does "whatever" mean?

Whatever: 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. Whatever fortune stays from his word. Shak. Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields. Milton. Whatever be its intrinsic value. J. H. Newman. Note: Whatever often follows a noun, being used elliptically. "There being no room for any physical discovery whatever" [sc. it may be]. Whately.