| 释义 |
nothing, n. and adv.|ˈnʌθɪŋ|
Forms: α. 1–2 nán, 1–6 na- (6–8 Sc. nai-, 6 nay-, 8–9 nae-), 3 nað-, 4 nat-. β. 3 none (3, 5 non), 3– no- (4–5 noo-, 6 noa-); also 1 -þinc, 4 -thinc, 5 -thynk, 7 -think; 1–5 -þing (3 -e), 3 -ðing, 4 -thinge, 4–6 -thyng(e, 5 -thyngge, -tyng; 9 dial. nothin', -en.
[f. no a. + thing. In ME. written indifferently as one word or as two.]
A. n.
I. Not any (material or immaterial) thing; nought.
1. a. In ordinary uses and constructions.
In OE. and ME. frequently accompanied by another negative, as still in vulgar and dialect speech.
αc888K. ælfred Boeth. xxvi. §1 Nis nan þing soðre þonne þæt ðu seᵹst. c1000Ags. Gosp. John xvi. 23 On þam dæᵹe ᵹe ne biddað me nanes þinges. c1200Vices & Virtues 43 Ðat he ðarof ne forleas naþing ðe godd him hadde betaht. a1225Leg. Kath. 225 Ne ne mei na þing wiðstonden his wille. a1300Cursor M. 560 He has it wroght..for-þi es nathing him sua dere. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xii. (Matthias) 343, I na-thynge spek forthire her of his lowynge. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 175 He mysdois nocht in nathing. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 506 Thow fand me fechand nathing that followit to feid. 1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 390 That successione..has na thing ado now with the deuile. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 107 Leif nathing that belangis to the Paip. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. Prol. 63 Of the fishes, how copious thair thay ar, I neid to say naything. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. iii, Keep naithing up,—ye naithing have to fear. 1786Burns Holy Fair xxv, Lasses that hae naething!
βa1225Ancr. R. 120 No þing þet heo deð nis Gode licwurðe ne icweme. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1126 Ðat water is so deades driuen, Non ðing ne mai ðor-inne liuen. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2086 So moche poer him com to, þat him ne miȝte no þing atstonde. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 42 Freris schulle no þing apropre to hem self, neiþer hous ne place ne ony oþer þing. 1390Gower Conf. I. 72 Thanne out of his place he crepte So stille that sche nothing herde. c1450Cron. Eng. ccxv. (Caxton, 1480) 202 So they slewe hir lord that no thynge was perceyued. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Collect 4 Trin., Without whom nothyng is strong, nothing is holy. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 118 b, Nothing escapeth their handes. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 151 He..bestoweth vppon them some other reward, and many times nothing at all. 1671Milton Samson 1721 Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail Or knock the breast. 1733Swift Corr. Wks. 1841 II. 694 He asks nothing; and thinks, like a philosopher, that he wants nothing. 1794Paley Evid. (1825) II. 304 He..omitted nothing that was prescribed by the law. 1827Southey Penins. War II. 4 Nothing which skill and expense could effect had been spared. 1864Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. vi. (1875) 85 From the Byzantine Empire..nothing could be hoped.
b. Followed by a positive adj.
c1205Lay. 3014 Ah heo ne seide naþing soð, no more þenne hiire suster. 1548Geste Pr. Masse 7478 Nothing grevouse at al, nothing holy at al. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 262 Therfore did we nothing in this warre contrary to our dutie. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 457 Ther's nothing ill can dwell in such a Temple. 1652Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 442 There being in them nothing either petitory or gratulatory. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 70 Without thee nothing lofty can I sing. 1861J. Nichol in Mem. (1896) 95 Remember the proverb, ‘Nothing great is easy’. 1892Chamb. Jrnl. Oct. 636/2 Apsley Villa was nothing surprisingly grand.
c. In proverbs and proverbial expressions.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 39 Whereas nothing is, the kynge must lose his ryght. 1562― Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 141 Where nothing is, a little thyng doth ease. Where al thyng is, nothyng can fully please. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 48 This Prouerbe.., that nothing who practiseth nothing shall haue. 1602Breton Wonders Wks. (Grosart) II. 9/2 With that the young man replyed: oh sir, nothing venter, nothing haue. 1614Cocks in Cal. Col. P., E. Indies 342 As the saying is, nothing seek nothing find. 1668Sedley Mulberry Gard. iii. ii, Who ever caught any thing with a naked hook? Nothing venture, nothing win. a1704T. Brown To Author of Address in Collect. of Poems 97 Thou know'st the Proverb: Nothing due for naught. 1885Cent. Mag. XXIX. 186/2 ‘Nothing venture, nothing have’, Betty replied saucily.
d. Denoting mental inferiority.
a1754Fielding Essay on Nothing iii, A fellow, whom all the world knew to have Nothing in him.
e. Denoting absence of religious belief.
1855J. H. Newman Callista ii, There were a vast many persons who ought to be Catholics, but were heretics, or nothing at all. 1891L. Falconer Mlle. Ixe i, Foreign governesses, in my opinion,..are always either Roman Catholics or nothing.
f. As adj. or int. Not at all; in no respect. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1883G. W. Peck Mirth for Million 325 ‘You are pretty rough on the old man..after he has..given you nice presents.’ ‘Nice presents nothin. All I got was a ‘Come to Jesus’ Christmas card.’ 1888[see nope adv.]. 1899A. Nicholas Idyl of Wabash 175 ‘My account—nothing!’ was her scornful ejaculation. 1899B. Tarkington Gentleman from Indiana i. 10 ‘But you only wait—’ The editor smiled sadly. ‘Wait nothing. Don't threaten, man.’ 1911H. Quick Yellowstone Nights xi. 288 Stop nothing! Federal injunction won't do it. 1922M. B. Houston Witch-man xviii. 238 ‘He could have found it, of course.’..‘Found it, nothing. I saw other things he'd taken.’ 1925Wodehouse Sam the Sudden xiii. 93 ‘Two million smackers it's going to get him,’ retorted Dolly. ‘Two million smackers nothing! The stuff's hidden in a place where he'd never think of looking in two million years.’ 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1968) ii. 43 ‘How about the spooks?’.. ‘Spooks nothing.’ 1966A. E. Lindop I start Counting xxii. 275 Grandad said, poor little mite nothing. The man that gave her a lift told the police she'd done her best to seduce him. 1969R. Rendell Best Man to Die xii. 117 ‘Did you wait for him?’ ‘Wait, nothing!’ said Cullam hotly. ‘Why would I?’ 1972D. Lees Zodiac 46 ‘Francs?’ ‘Francs nothing—pounds.’ 1974T. Barling Shooter Man iii. 23 ‘It just slipped out.’ ‘Slipped nothing. You couldn't resist.’
g. as slick as nothing at all: very promptly or quickly, ‘in the twinkling of an eye’. rare.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xl. 410 Done it just as slick as nothing at all.
h. with (or having) nothing on, wearing no clothes, undressed, naked.
1719Defoe Robinson Crusoe 62, I stripp'd..having nothing on but a Chequer'd Shirt, and a Pair of Linnen Drawers. 1908Kipling Let. in C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) xvi. 399, I cannot help blushing when I am rung-up by women—with nothing on but spectacles and a bath-towel. 1971E. Paul Reluctant Cloak & Dagger Man xi. 137 We always swam here with nothing on.
i. nothing doing: see do v. 34 c.
j. like nothing on earth: strange, ugly, wretched, etc., in a superlative degree.
1923A. Christie Murder on Links xxvi. 286 She looked like nothing on God's earth. 1927W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 117 To look or feel like nothing on earth (very bad). 1974M. G. Eberhart Danger Money (1975) iv. 39 ‘What's he like?’ ‘Nothing on earth... I wouldn't trust him with a nickel.’
k. there is nothing (much) in it: there is no important feature of interest or value in something; there is no significant difference between two things, etc.
1927Observer 18 Dec. 19/3 The first round there was nothing much in it. In the second round Angus..punched Mansfield round the ring. 1950Partridge Dict. Clichés (ed. 4) 156 Nothing in it, esp., there's nothing{ddd}(there is no appreciable—or important—difference): c. 20.
l. to have nothing on (someone): to be no match for (someone). See have v. 14 h.
2. a. With dependent genitive: No part, share, etc., of some thing (or person).
c1000in Assmann Ags. Hom. (1889) xviii. 48 Þa ne ᵹefredde he naþinc þæs brynes for þam miclan luste. a1122O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1096, Se wæs Papa ᵹehaten þeah þe he þæs setles naþing næfde on Rome. a1200Moral Ode 98 in O.E. Hom. I. 165 Nabbeð hi naþing forȝeten of al þet ho [ere] iseȝen. a1300Cursor M. 2543 O prai wald abram nathing haue. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (Pelagia) 23 Wantande nathing of bewte, þat in a woman suld fundyn be. c1400Destr. Troy 13215 Of Nigromansy ynogh nothing hom lakked. 1540–1Elyot Image Gov. 31 Ye nothyng haue appayred of the imperyall maiesttee. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii. 6 Finding nothyng of that they sought for. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 399 Nothing of him that doth fade. 1671Milton Samson 374 Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me But justly. 1711Steele Spect. No. 43 ⁋8 We were in nothing of the Secret. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 172, I..began..with nothing; that is to say, I had nothing of stock. 1768Goldsm. in Boswell, Johnson..has nothing of the bear but his skin. 1872Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. vi. (1906) 137 There was no atmosphere in it, nothing of the light that never was.
b. Const. of with adjective. Now rare.
Prob. after F. rien de (nouveau, etc.).
1645Chas. I Wks. (1662) 316, I..have nothing of new to direct you in. 1662Evelyn Chalcogr. 11 That there might be nothing of deficient as to our Institution. a1700Dryden (J.), Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. 1829Landor Imag. Conv., Barrow & Newton Wks. 1853 I. 482/2 Nothing of excellent is to be done by felicity. 1870Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 12 Nothing of common is there, nothing of theatrical.
3. a. Denoting comparative insignificance or unimportance: A thing (or person) not worth reckoning, considering, or mentioning.
1382Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 16 Who euere shal swere by the temple of God, no thing is [1388 it is no thing]. 1390Gower Conf. I. 340 For who that is of man no king, The remenant is as no thing. c1500Melusine 120 For if..I were taken of our enmyes, of my lyf is nothing. a1548Hall Chron., K. Hen. VIII 230 b, Y⊇ same night..fel a smal raine, nothyng to speak of. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 123 So, that skill in the Weapon is nothing, without Sack. 1611― Wint. T. iv. ii. 44 A man (they say) that from very nothing..is growne into an vnspeakable estate. 1632Lithgow Trav. iii. 88 It was nothing to see euery day foure or fiue men killed in the streetes. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. II. 274 We..falsely imagine we are Something when in Truth we are Nothing. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 3) I. iii. 31 Knowledge is nothing compared with doing. 1883Howells Woman's Reason xii, He would be nothing without her.
†b. In phr. thing, man, etc., of nothing. Obs.
Prob. after F. homme, etc., de rien, or L. nihilī.
1583Golding Calvin on Deut. xv. 89 The daunger that wee bee scaped out of seemeth to be a thing of nothing. 1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. i. 35 Vitellius, a man of nothing,..drunck at noone-day and heauy with surfet. a1628Preston Breastpl. Love, Effect. Faith (1631) 145 Looke upon them as trifles, as matters of nothing.
c. As adj. in trivial use: of no account, insignificant, meaningless, insipid, dull; (of a dress, etc.) discreet, elegantly unobtrusive.
1961Time (Atlantic ed.) 18 Aug. 60 All these beautiful people with nothing faces. 1964‘E. McBain’ Axe vi. 118 This is a nothing game, you dig? A buck, two bucks a time, that's all. 1965Vogue Aug. 43/2 Little ‘nothing’ sweaters and shirts for wearing with suits. 1967W. Murray Sweet Ride iv. 46 It was a nothing place, just a few booths and a counter. 1969P. Kavanagh Such Men are Dangerous (1971) ii. 30 The characters..were all hung up on trivia, little nothing problems in their careers and marriages. 1971Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 23 May 53/1 A girl in one of those ‘nothing’ dresses with the Quant signature written all over it. 1972P. Dickinson Lizard in Cup vi. 97 It's a nothing thing, like I said... But drugs aren't a nothing thing, no.
4. Arith. That which is not any number, and possesses neither quantity nor value; the figure or character representing this; nought. Also fig.
c1425Crafte of Nombryng (1897) 25 Multiplye 2 be a 0, it wol be nothyng. [1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 213 Now thou art an O without a figure, I am better then thou art now, I am a Foole, thou art nothing.] 1743Emerson Fluxions 6 Consequently o will be nothing, and therefore all the Terms wherein it is found will be nothing. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xxii. 236 The equation between the two periods at which it is successively nothing. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. (1852) 486 The whole would be like multiplying nothing by nothing—the result would still be nothing.
5. a. That which is non-existent. Also personified.
to dance on nothing: see dance v. 3 b.
1535Coverdale Job xxvi. 7 He stretcheth out y⊇ north ouer the emptie, & hangeth y⊇ earth vpon nothinge. 1587Golding De Mornay ii. (1592) 23 God, to shew vs that he made all of nothing, hath left a certeine inclination in his Creatures, whereby they tend naturally to nothing. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Dotage i, Embroider'd lyes, nothing between two dishes; These are the pleasures here. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 52 Mere nothing being never able to produce anything at all. 1701Norris Ideal World i. ii. 74, I thought it had been a..maxim all the world over, that nothing could have no properties or relations. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 332 It is here that your modern legislators have gone deep into the negative series, and sunk even below their own nothing. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 120 An emissary of the primeval Nothing. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iv. §53 (1875) 177 Nothing cannot become an object of consciousness.
pers.1648J. Beaumont Psyche vii. ccxcviii, A mortal Life is but an handsom fiction Nothing well-drest, a flattering Contradiction. 1656Cowley Pindar. Odes, Life & Fame i, Oh Life, thou Nothings younger Brother! a1708Beveridge Priv. Th. i. (1730) 73 It is as easy for Him to..send me back into my mother Nothing.
b. Denoting extinction or destruction.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 315 Dem. No Die, but an ace for him; for he is but one. Lis. Less then an ace man. For he is dead, he is nothing. 1613― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 208 So lookes the chafed Lyon Vpon the daring Huntsman that has gall'd him: Then makes him nothing. 1812Byron And thou art dead ii, To me there needs no stone to tell, 'Tis Nothing that I loved so well.
c. to nothing, denoting the final point, stage, or state of the process of destruction, dissolution, etc.
1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 22 Which made euery man suppose that after the expence of much mony, it would vanish to nothing. 1655M. Casaubon Enthus. iii. (1656) 169 Through continuall contemplation..having reduced his body to almost nothing. 1671Milton P.R. iii. 389 Much instrument of war Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought. 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. Introd. 3 The Conversation falls and drops to nothing. 1774Mitford Ess. Harmony Lang. 35 The vowel-sound..is nearly of the same kind, but degenerated to almost nothing. 1875Kinglake Crimea vi. xii. V. 248 The parapet..dwarfed down to nothing. 1887Morris Odyss. xii. 46 Dead men rotting to nothing.
6. With a and pl.
a. A non-existent, a comparatively insignificant or worthless, thing; a trifling event.
1607Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 81 To heare my Nothings monster'd. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies Concl. 449 Seeking for that, which if they had found, were but a nothing of a nothing in respect of true beatitude. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 181 A Bundle of Nonsensical Fortuitous Atoms conjoined into a Hodg-Podge of confused Nothings. 1723Swift Stella at Woodpark Wks. 1751 X. 47 A Supper worthy of herself, Five Nothings in five Plates of Delph. 1782F. Burney Cecilia vii. ix, She then proceeded..to relate the little nothings that had passed since the winter. 1821Shelley Adonais xxxix, 'Tis we, who..strike with our spirit's knife Invulnerable nothings. 1850Monckton Milnes in Life (1891) I. x. 444 The little nothings of occupied life leave a man no time for his duty. 1898Henley Lond. Types, Hawker, Hawking in either hand Some artful nothing made of twine and tin.
b. A trivial or trifling remark.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 95 Thus he his speciall nothing euer prologues. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 320 Mistresses that must have each day two or three Houres spent in speaking to them Nothings. 1709Pope Ess. Crit. 326 Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style, Amaze th' unlearn'd. 1797Lamb Let. to Coleridge in Final Mem. iii. 25 You are very good to submit to be pleased with reading my nothings. 1824Byron Juan xv. lxxviii, To his gay nothings, nothing was replied. 1894Mrs. H. Ward Marcella I. 181 A few nothings had passed between them as to the weather.
c. A person of no note; a nobody.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 135 That harsh, noble, simple nothing: That Cloten. 1681–4J. Scott Chr. Life 81 In the presence of God we shall be Nothings. 17..Ramsay To Duncan Forbes x, Strutting naethings are despis'd. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. iv, The nameless nothings that are always lounging about the country mansions of the great. 1879Froude Cæsar xii. 163 Metellus and..Afranius, who had been chosen consuls for the year 60, were mere nothings.
d. a new nothing, a worthless novelty. Now dial. (see quot. 1854).
1641Wilkins Mercury Pref. (1707) 5 Fresh Heresies (New⁓nothings) still appear. 1653Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year Ep. Ded., No man ought to be offended, that Sermons are not like curious Inquiries after New-nothings, but pursuances of Old Truths. 1820T. L. Peacock Misc. Wks. 1875 III. 330 Commonplace, which at length becomes thoroughly wearisome, even to the most indefatigable readers of the newest new nothings. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. II. 52 If you'll be good children, I'll bring you all a new⁓nothing to hang on your sleeves, i.e. nothing at all.
e. no nothing, nothing at all. colloq.
1835J. F. Cooper Monikins III. iv. 93 In this happy land, there was no registration, no passports, ‘no nothin’—as Mr. Poke pointedly expressed it. 1884Harper's Mag. Mar. 516/2 There is no store, no post-office, no sidewalked street,—no nothing. 1905Kipling Actions & Reactions (1909) 8 ‘No roads, no nothing!’ said Sophie. 1948H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. ix. 392 There may not be no nothing. 1968Washington Post 21 Sept. A. 12/1 His [sc. Wallace's] appeal is to racial animosity, no-nothing policies.
†7. = nothingness. Obs. rare.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 626 No hearing, no feeling, but my Sirs Song, and admiring the Nothing of it. 1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. i. xxxvii. (1670) 121 To make man feel his own evil, his infirmity, his nothing. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. (1756) 122 He will experimentally find the emptiness of all things, and the nothing of what is past.
II. In various collocations and phrases.
nothing less, see less a. 7 b and adv. 3. almost nothing, see almost adv. 3. neck or nothing, see neck n.1 8.
8. Followed by a limiting particle.
a. nothing else (but or than): see else adv. 1.
a1300Cursor M. 13471 Þis he said..To fand him and nathing elles. 1390Gower Conf. I. 198 Sche wolde him nothing elles sein Bot of her name. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxix. 206 And they had neuer done nothynge els, I was bounde to rewarde theym. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 123 b, In suche also as concerned religion and nothyng els. 1653Milton Ps. iv. 12 Things false and vain and nothing else but lies? 1756W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans I. 123 Have you nothing else to do but cleaning the books? a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 187 The followers of Newton say, that this power is nothing else but that of attraction. 1804–6Syd. Smith Mor. Philos. (1850) 172 If I can point out the cause.., I see nothing else which I have to do. 1869Martineau Ess. II. 42 Sin is nothing else than moral evil.
b. nothing but (or nothing except): see but conj. 4 b.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 94 Love we God..and drede we noo þing but hym. c1400Sir Perc. 714 He had nothynge to bere But his sadille and his gere. a1533Frith Disput. Purgat. (1829) 102 That their words are nothing but even their own imagination. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 529 Beastes thinke of nothing but that which they beholde. 1635Heylin Sabbath i. (1636) 77 Having almost nothing but what they borrowed of the Egyptians. 1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. i. 3 Nothing but Mens inbred fondnesse for the Object it converses with. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋7 The Prizes were generally nothing but a Crown of Cypress or Parsley. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 175 ⁋2 Nothing but the desert or the cell can exclude it from notice. c1838W. H. Murray in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1973) IV. 160 Mark me: no amendments, no conferences—I'll have ‘the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill’. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. I. 141 It had been fruitful of nothing but disputes. 1884Encycl. Brit. XVII. 701/2 Witnesses are sworn: ‘The evidence you shall give..shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So’, &c. 1886Froude Oceana 140 When doing nothing except wandering in the shade of the wood. 1934J. G. Brandon One-Minute Murder iv. 32 As far as that poor devil's concerned..it's accident and nothing but. 1973Black World June 30 A poet ain't nothin' but a bird.
ellipt.1607Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 234 This peace is nothing, but to rust Iron, encrease Taylors [etc.].
(b) Also used to typify theorizing which attempts to reduce, simplify, or explain concepts in such a way that they seem to accord with the theory propounded; so the nothing-but; also nothing-but-ism, nothing-buttery.
1923R. H. Thouless Introd. Psychol. Relig. x. 129 The essential requirement of this theory is that it should be shown that religion contains nothing but elements of this kind, and this is exactly what Mr Schroeder makes no attempt at all to prove. 1935Mind XLIV. 91 Jung's formulation..is the antithesis of ‘nothing-but’-ism. 1937A. Huxley Ends & Means xiv. 257 All who advance theories of mind containing the word ‘nothing but’, tend to involve themselves in this kind of contradiction. The very fact that they formulate theories which they believe to have general validity..constitutes in itself a sufficient denial of the validity of ‘nothing-but’ judgments concerning the nature of the mind. 1951M. Lowry Let. 25 Aug. (1967) 252 You might call it pseudo-Freud and the philosophy of the ‘nothingbut’. 1961Mind LXX. 100 There is much else in the literary idiom of nature-philosophy: nothing-buttery, for example, always part of the minor symptomatology of the bogus. ‘Love is..nothing more, and nothing less, than [etc.]’.
c. After did or done, formerly followed by pa. tense or pa. pple., now usually by infinitive.
[c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 682, I wol hym visite, Haue I no thyng but rested me a lite.] 1485Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 61 The doulphyn dyd nothyng, nyȝt ne day, but admoneshed hys doughter. 1512Helyas in Thoms Prose Rom. (1827) 76, vi. children, to whome they did nothing but tooke away theyr chaines. 1554–5Ridley Wks. (Parker Soc.) 14, I haue..done nothing else but digged a pit. 1671H. M. tr. Erasm. Colloq. 542 If I had done nothing else herein but trifled. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 165 We did nothing but ascend.
d. one has, or there is, nothing for it but, denoting absence of any alternative course. (Cf. for prep. 13 c.)
1742Richardson Pamela III. 78 So that between one and t'other, a poor Girl has nothing for it, but a few Weeks Courtship. 1792Elvina I. 74 They were prepared to banter me, so I had nothing for it but downright impudence. 1843F. E. Paget Pageant 121 There was nothing for it but to submit with a good grace. 1875Ruskin Fors Clav. lv. 196 Hansli had nothing for it but to obey.
e. nothing, if not.., above everything.
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. i. 120 O, gentle Lady, do not put me too't, For I am nothing, if not Criticall. 1876J. Parker Paracl. i. ii. 175 Christianity is nothing, if not spiritual. 1881H. James Portr. Lady xxxv, He was never precipitate; he was nothing if not discreet.
9. for nothing:
†a. By no means; on no account; for no consideration. Obs.
c1275Lay. 12419 He ne mihte for noþing Melga i-finde. a1300Cursor M. 11149 Of hir ne wald he for nathing, Lai of hordome mistruing. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1853 Lucrece, Y wol not haue noo forgyft for no-thinge. c1420Palladius on Husb. xii. 275 They growe vnnethe in sad lond or rubrik, And for no thing the cley [they] may not vse. c1450Lovelich Merlin 2562 And it be so,..thanne wolde j that ȝe hym slowen for non thing. 1581Marbeck Bk. Notes 258 But there present he would not bee for nothing.
b. In vain, to no purpose.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 80 Leste they shoulde appeere to have commen thyther for nothyng. 1872Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. vi. (1906) 130 That old Lawgiver wasn't learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians for nothing.
c. For no reason; causelessly.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 130 Will you be bound for nothing? 1600― A.Y.L. iv. i. 154, I will weepe for nothing, like Diana in the Fountaine. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. viii. 169 He who will be angry for any thing, will be angry for nothing.
d. Without payment or cost; free, gratuitously.
1610Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 154 A braue kingdome.., Where I shall haue my Musicke for nothing. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 132 Provisions in these parts, are so plentiful, that the Inhabitants..sell them in a manner for nothing. 1693Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 90 To do any thing for nothing, was not his Maxim. 1742Fielding J. Andrews i. xv, Loving the public well enough to give them a sermon or a dose of physic for nothing. 1886D. C. Murray Cynic Fortune xii, There was not a woman of them who would not have done his clear-starching for nothing.
10. nothing to:
a. Of no consequence to one.
1584Cogan Haven Health l. (1636) 64 What Rusticks doe, or may doe without hinderance of their health, is nothing to Students. 1686tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 90 The Townsmen made answer, 'twas nothing to them if there were such a Famine in the City. 1885‘M. Rutherford’ M. Rutherford's Deliverance iv. 65 She had learned that she was nothing specially to him. 1947E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh I. 79 He's nothing to you—or to me, either. Ibid. II. 105 The good old Cause means nothing to you any more.
b. Insignificant or worthless compared to some other person or thing.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 165 All I can is nothing, To her, whose worth, make other worthies nothing. 1639W. C. Italian Convert Ep. Ded. 3 But all this is nothing to that which they both suffered for their conscience. 1697R. Collier Ess. i. (1703) 169 A new way of extracting the spirit of happiness; the Chymistry of a bee is nothing to it. 1793Gouv. Morris Sparks' Life & Writ. (1832) I. 415 Our old Congress was nothing to this Convention. 1877Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 77 Self is an unpleasant object for study. Anatomy is nothing to it.
c. there's nothing to it: it is very easy to do; there is no difficulty involved.
1934E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! I. 21 There (with a grin). I know there's nothing to it, anyway. 1951H. Wouk Caine Mutiny viii. 77 There's nothing to it, really, except making damn sure none of your watch-standers sit down or fall asleep standing up. 1953F. Stark Coast of Incense iv. 232, I am puzzled when asked what makes my style, for there is nothing to it except a natural ear for cadence and the wish to get the meaning right. 1963‘S. Woods’ Taste of Fears i. 13 ‘There's nothing to it if you're quick, or so I'm told,’ he added. 1971D. Eden Afternoon Walk vii. 83 ‘You used to automatic drive?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then there's nothing to it.’ 1974Country Life 14 Feb. 322/1, I mentioned that I was spending the following night at a Japanese inn. He assured me that there was nothing to it.
11. to make nothing of:
a. To make light of.
Usually with gerund; for the earlier const. with infinitive, see make v.1 51 c.
1632Sherwood, To make nothing of, desestimer. 1711Addison Spect. No. 57 ⁋3 She..makes nothing of leaping over a Six-bar Gate. 1821Examiner 732/2 He made nothing of eating burning coals. 1838S. Parker Explor. Tour (1846) 28 The river makes nothing of washing away banks and islands. 1850W. Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. vi. (1859) 80 This forced trial of hydropathy is, indeed, so common an occurrence that whalemen make nothing of it.
b. (With can.) To be unable to accomplish anything; to fail to comprehend or solve.
1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 229 They boarded her again the third time, but could make nothing on't. 1852Froude Ess., Eng. Forgotten Worthies (1906) 67 They could make nothing..of his odd ironical answers. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. xii, Bella could make nothing of it but that John was in the right.
12. to come to nothing: to have no effect or result; to break down, fail.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 233 This voyage..came to nothing. 1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis v. x. (1636) 645 Her promises came to nothing. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 203 All my Fancies and Schemes came to nothing. 1796–7Jane Austen Pride & Prej. v. (1813) 15 It may all come to nothing. 1814― Mansf. Park (1847) 172 His falling in love with Julia had come to nothing.
13. to have nothing to do with (a thing or person): see do v. 33 d. Also ellipt.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 37 Away, I haue nothing to do with thee. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) I. 86 I'll have nothing to do with it. 1830Fraser's Mag. I. 203 It has nothing to do with the purpose. 1835F. W. Faber Lett. (1869) 39 God caters for tomorrow; we have nothing to do with it. 1892Punch 16 Jan. 41/2 ‘A Wife's Secret’ (nothing to do with the old play of that name).
14. a. all to nothing: to the fullest extent.
1742Richardson Pamela IV. 53 And has carry'd his Point all to nothing, as the Racing Gentlemen say. 1797A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) I. 161 Why a voyage to India was all to nothing a better venture than marriage. a1818M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 67 The most beautiful tree, or, rather, group of trees, all to nothing, is the Bamboo.
b. With beat. (Also simply to nothing.)
1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 88 Christians..beat us all to nothing in honour and humanity. 1784R. Bage Barham Downs II. 263 If the Gods had made you poetical I should have beat Swift's Sacharissa all to nothing. 1819Metropolis I. 173 Our Opera..and our balls at Almack's beat them to nothing.
15. nothing off (see quot. 1846). Naut.
1846A. Young Naut. Dict. s.v. Near, Nothing off! is an order not to let her fall off from the wind. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 41 What is the meaning of ‘nothing off’? Keeping the ship close to the wind without shaking the sails.
16. nothing to write (or cable, wire) home about, denoting something that is unworthy of comment, unremarkable or mediocre. slang (orig. Forces').
1917W. Muir Observations of Orderly 227 Miserable conditions.., bad accommodation, doubtful food..these, in the lingo of our now much-travelled and stoical troops, are ‘nothing to write home about’. 1937Auden & MacNeice Lett. from Iceland iv. 38 Fare from Hull to any⁓where in Iceland, {pstlg}4 10s. plus 5 kr. a day for food. The latter is nothing to write home about but eatable. 1942Berrey & Van Den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang i. 33 Fair to middling,..nothing to..shout about, nothing to wire or write home about.
III. attrib. and Comb.
17. a. Attrib., as nothing-case, nothing-creature, nothing-gift.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. vi. 86 That nothing-guift of differing Multitudes. 1647Jessey (title), The Exceeding Riches of Grace Advanced by the Spirit of Grace, in an Empty Nothing Creature. 1700C. Nesse Antid. Armin. (1827) 107 Unconverted men are nothing-creatures. 1847Alb. Smith Stuck-up People (ed. 4) 22 Cups, and saucers, and miniatures; inkstands,..and papier-mâché nothing-cases.
b. Objective, as nothing-do, nothing-doing, nothing-saying, etc.
1629T. Adams Barren Tree Wks. 966 What innumerable Swarmes of nothing-does beleaguer this Citie! 1633― Exp. 2 Peter ii. 10. 729 Droves of beggars, profest cyphers, nothing-does that swarme about this Citie. 1667Denham Direct. Paint. iv. iii. 2 The mad shout Of a poor nothing-understanding Rout. 1773A. Grant Lett. fr. Mts. (1807) I. v. 47 The incursions of these nothing-doing people. 1811Jane Austen Lett. (1884) II. 83 His usual nothing-meaning, harmless, heartless civility. a1817― Persuasion (1818) IV. viii. 160 After a period of nothing-saying amongst the party.
c. In various phrases used attributively, or as the basis of a noun or adjective.
1778Learning at a Loss I. 79 That Kind of Ennuyant Nothing-to-do-ishness which is worse than all the Rest. 1794Coleridge Lett. (1895) 72 Gloucester is a nothing-to-be-said-about town. 1812Colman Br. Grins, Two Parsons lxxxv, These practical, nothing-so-easy jokers. 1828Lights & Shades I. 210 Let him be bound apprentice to a nothing-to-do man. 1878H. Wright Mental Trav. 143 An abyss of commonplace or nothing-in-lifeism. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms 126 One of those nothing-particular-looking old chaps. 1906All-Story Mag. (U.S.) Aug. 593/1 The nothing-doingness of things in general outside the office. 1924R. Graves Mock Beggar Hall 16 A formless lumpish, nothing-in-particular. 1924D. H. Lawrence England, My England 98 They passed an agreeable, casual, nothing-in-particular evening.
B. adv. Not at all, in no way.
1. a. Qualifying a verb.
αa1122O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1070, Þa munecas..beaden heom grið, ac hi na rohten na þing. c1205Lay. 22048 Þat no bið he for þan watere naððing idracched. a1300Cursor M. 12245 Na thinc can i him discreue, For sagh i neuer nan suilk mi liue. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 117 To prise hym forthir to pray, It helpis na thing. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 561 Thow trowis nathing thir taillis that I am telland. 1567Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 573 The proffeitt quhilk na thing belangit to thame. a1585Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 289 Quhilk profitis nathing at the lenth.
β1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 982 Vor þing þat woneþ & noþing wexþ, sone it worþ ido. c1330Arth. & Merl. 5154 (Kölbing), His scheld perced Gvinbating, Ac his strong hauberk no þing. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 214 Hit is no þyng for loue thei labour þus faste. c1440Alph. Tales 455 All way þai war nothyng lukid after. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour C ij, Hir lord her husbond was no thing plesid that she went so gladly. a1533Ld. Berners Golden Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) B ij, I praise nothyng the knowlege of myne auncesters. 1597T. Morley Introd. Mus. 95 You blamed my beginning, yet haue you altred it nothing. 1615A. Stafford Heavenly Dog 68 Though this be the most terrible of deaths..yet it shall nothing appale me. 1666M. M. Solomon's Prescr. 83 Perhaps thou art one that think'st thyself safe, and that this nothing belongs to thee. 1702English Theophrastus 164 Naked lessons and precepts have nothing the force that Images and Parables have upon our minds. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lxii. 307 An aristocracy however differs nothing from a despotism. 1829Landor Imag. Conv., Marvel & Bp. Parker Wks. 1853 II. 107/1 They often infect those who ailed nothing. 1867Duke of Argyll Reign of Law ii. (1871) 58 It helps us nothing in such a difficulty, to say that [etc.].
†b. to make nothing, not to pertain or be of consequence to, not to tell for or against (a person or thing).
After L. nihil facere or F. ne..faire rien.
1551Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. vi. (1895) 205 It maketh nothing to thys matter, whether yow saye that sickenes is a griefe, or that in sickenes is griefe. 1560J. Daus Sleidane's Comm. 424 b, That maketh nothing for the matter saith he, for he beareth witnes of him self. 1687Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., It makes nothing against me, cela ne fait rien contre moi. 1690Locke Hum. Underst. i. iii. §3 But this makes nothing for Innate Characters on the Mind. 1727Boyer Eng.-Fr. Dict. s.v. Make, It makes nothing to me,..Cela..ne me regarde point.
2. a. Qualifying an adj. or adv. Now arch.
a1050Wærferth's Gregory's Dial. 114 Wyrc þin worc, & ne beo þu nan þing sari. a1290St. Dunstan 122 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 23 Hit ne þhouhte him no-þing long. 1315Shoreham i. 891 Myd sucher sorȝe schryfte, man, Wel stylle, and no þyng loude. 1370Robt. Cicyle 56 The crowne semyth the no thyng welle. c1450Merlin 18 She is nothynge gilty. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1981 Now of hyr goyng I am nothyng glad. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. ix. 163 For she was horned and no thynge cleere. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. vii. 8 [It] is nothing rough in handling. 1632Lithgow Trav. x. 495 The Wooll..is nothing inferiour to that of..Spaine. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1039 Her hand he seis'd, and to a shadie bank..He led her nothing loath. 1808Scott Marm. ii. iv, She loved to see her maids obey, Yet nothing stern was she in cell. 1867Myers St. Paul (1898) 21 Nothing disdainful of the Virgin's womb.
b. With adjs. or advs. preceded by so.
a1466Paston Lett. II. 264 For I wys she ys no thyng so sadde as I wold she wer. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 153 b, Theyr syght is duske or dymme, & nothynge so clere as is the syght of the contemplatyue persone. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 78 My calamities seeme nothing so many in comparison of your great miseries. 1620E. Blount Horæ Subs. 317 A passion that can be mastered, is nothing so dangerous as one that cannot. 1644Evelyn Diary 24 Sept., Some bathes of medicinal waters,..but nothing so neately wall'd & adorn'd as ours in Som'erset⁓shire. 1712Hearne Collect. III. 413 He was nothing so learned and judicious a Man as he is represented to have been. 1826E. Irving Babylon iii. I. 169 The insight which was given to Daniel..was nothing so minute and particular as that which was given to the apostle John.
c. Followed by the and a comparative.
1547Hooper Declar. Christ x. Wks. (Parker Soc.) 76 An infidel may receive the external sign of baptism and yet no Christian man nothing the rather. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 116 So shall the example be the more familiar, and your paines nothing the greater. 1592Greene Conny Catch. To Young Gentl., I have eaten Spanishe Mirabolanes, and yet am nothing the more metamorphosed. a1662Heylin Laud (1671) 129 More recent were the Puritans, but nothing the less dangerous. 1829Southey Sir T. More (1831) II. 18 The bird was nothing the worse for what it had undergone.
3. a. nothing like, in various uses. Cf. like a. 2.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3023 Hir woys was..nothyng lyke a mannys voise in soun. 1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. 133 Not of that effycacyte as is spoken of, nor nothing like. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 43 b, Not so much credit to be given unto them, nothing like, as to the scripture. 1782E. N. Blower G. Bateman III. 111 [She sits her horse] nothing like so well as you used to do. 1815Zeluca I. 194 Nothing like so excellent as your epigrammatic translation. 1868Thirlwall Lett. (1881) II. 130 Our frost..seems to have been nothing like so severe as it has been in France or Italy.
b. nothing near. Cf. near adv. 6.
1581G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. (1586) i. 5 b, Your courteous good will maketh you go beyond the trueth,..which commeth nothing neere to that you spake of. 1609Bible (Douay) Ezek. xlviii. Comm., The terrestrial citie of Jerusalem..was nothing nere so large. 1642Rogers Naaman 59 This was no great state (nothing neere Naamans). 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 25 Not much inferior to the other, but nothing near so large. a1797Burke (Webster), The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed.
c. nothing so, in various uses.
1515Barclay Egloges ii. (1570) B iv b/2 But many fooles thinke it is nothing so. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 275 As if Democritus had bene outragious indeede: who was nothing so. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 139 In the spring⁓time it is nothing so. 1642Jer. Taylor God's Judgem. i. xxiii. 91 When some replyed, That the soules of men were immortall..hee..swore, that he thought it nothing so. 1701Grew Cosmol. Sacra iv. iv. 189 Some may think of Jael that..she was no better than a Trapanning Hussy. But nothing so. 1874Lowell Agassiz iv. ii, Our social monotone of level days, Might make our best seem banishment; But it was nothing so.
4. nothing worth, of no value. Now rare.
Perh. partly an inversion of worth nothing.
1535Coverdale Job xxiv. 25 Who wil then reproue me as a lyar, & saye yt my wordes are nothinge worth? 1587Golding De Mornay xviii. 288 Who knoweth not that thing to be nothing worth, that is given for nought? 1619R. Weste Bk. of Demeanor 116 in Babees Bk. 295 To belch or bulch..Commendeth manners to be base, most foule and nothing worth. 1654Fuller Triana ii. (1664) 180 Mustard is nothing worth unless it bite. 1727Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 70 Some Rich Men over-valued, tho' nothing worth. 1833Coleridge Table-t. 16 Feb., My Devil was to be, like Goethe's, the universal humorist, who should make all things vain and nothing worth. 1833Tennyson Two Voices 331 A life of nothings, nothing-worth.
absol.1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn poltron, a nothing worth, a slouthfull person.
Hence ˈnothing v., to reduce to nothing. ˈnothingist, a nihilist. ˈnothingizing, reduction to nothing, obliteration. ˈnothingless a., insignificant; non-existent. ˈnothingly n., a cipher; a., of no value or effect. nothingˈology, the study or science of nothing. nothingˈousian (see quot.). ˈnothingy a., of no worth or importance.
1652Benlowes Theoph. vii. xv, Their Spiritual Natures would be *nothing'd quite.
1648W. Browne tr. Le Foy's Polexander II. 339 'Tis an abasement; (Madam) 'tis an humiliation; 'Tis such a prodigious *nothinging of your selfe.
1890Daily News 17 Jan. 4/8 Thus Bazaroff becomes the first ‘Nihilist’ or ‘*Nothingist’.
c1830Coleridge in Blackw. Mag. Jan. (1882) 111 It is a discontinuing in descent, and a *nothingising of the female.
1822M. W. Shelley Let. 20 Dec., I have nothing else except my *nothingless self to talk about. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith v. i. 278 The solar system would sink into a nothingless relation to us.
1814F. Burney Wanderer i. v, That *nothingly, Ireton, has nearly shrugged his shoulders out of joint. 1833New Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 158 How vain, how nothingly is the groaning and struggling, and the Truth and the Virtue of the world!
1803Fessenden Terrible Tract. i. (ed. 2) 18 note, Sublime discoveries with abstruse sciences of insect-ology, mite-ology and *nothing⁓ology. 1811Spirit Public Jrnls. XV. 325 What new prospects arise for adventurers in nothingology.
1791in Parr Wks. (1828) VII. 93 You are a Parousian,..and my clergy are *Nothingousians, for they have no notion at all about the matter.
1801Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. IV. 36 It would be very strange if such *nothingy men were to stand in the way of so great a measure. 1834Greville Mem. (1875) III. xxii. 55 Parliament had opened the day before, with a long nothingy (a word I have coined) speech from the throne. |