'Nothing but' definitions:

Definition of 'Nothing but'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]