- Nothing but
- Nothing Noth"ing, n. [From no, a. + thing.]
1. Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word
thing); -- opposed to {anything} and {something}.
[1913 Webster]
Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle. [1913 Webster]
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought. --Is. xli. 24. [1913 Webster]
'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught. [1913 Webster]
{Nothing but}, only; no more than. --Chaucer.
{To make nothing of}. (a) To make no difficulty of; to consider as trifling or important. ``We are industrious to preserve our bodies from slavery, but we make nothing of suffering our souls to be slaves to our lusts.'' --Ray. (b) Not to understand; as, I could make nothing of what he said. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.