nothing but

1 definition found

nothing but - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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.
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              Yet had his aspect nothing of severe. --Dryden.
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     2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility;
        nothingness. --Shak.
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     3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something
        irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative
        unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle.
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              Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought.
                                                    --Is. xli. 24.
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              'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend,
              This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     4. (Arith.) A cipher; naught.
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     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.
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