[decooney]

Something about Nothing -


No thing; not anything: The box contained nothing. I've heard nothing about it.
No part; no portion: Nothing remains of the old house but the cellar hole.
One of no consequence, significance, or interest: The new nonsmoking policy is nothing to me.

n.
Something that has no existence.
Something that has no quantitative value; zero: a score of two to nothing.
One that has no substance or importance; a nonentity: “A nothing is a dreadful thing to hold onto” (Edna O'Brien).

adj.
Insignificant or worthless: “the utterly nothing role of a wealthy suitor” (Bosley Crowther).

adv.
In no way or degree; not at all: She looks nothing like her sister.

Idioms:
for nothing
Free of charge.
To no avail: all that trouble for nothing.
For no reason: fired him for nothing.
in nothing flat
In very little time; very quickly.
nothing doing Informal
Certainly not.


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[Middle English, from Old English nthing : n, no; see no2 + thing, thing; see thing.]
Usage Note: According to the traditional rule, nothing is invariably treated as a singular, even when followed by an exception phrase containing a plural noun: Nothing except your fears stands (not stand) in your way. Nothing but roses meets (not meet) the eye. See Usage Note at none.

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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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nothing

\Noth"ing\, adv. In no degree; not at all; in no wise.

Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed. --Milton.

The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed. --Burke.

Nothing off (Naut.), an order to the steersman to keep the vessel close to the wind.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


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.

Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. --Dryden.

2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness. --Shak.

3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought. --Is. xli. 24.

'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. --Dryden.

4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught.

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.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.


nothing

n : a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nil, nix, nada, aught, cipher, cypher, goose egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip]


Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University


nothing