Alternative forms
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Pronunciation
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nothing for it (uncountable)
- (idiomatic, often preceded by there + be and followed by but) No alternative; nothing else to be done or to have recourse to.
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter 21, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:"You will allow there was nothing for it after this but paying honest Joe Hodges's bill and departing."
1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 5, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:I (whatever the others might do) saw nothing for it but to comply.
Further reading
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