Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Nothing in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels nothing as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Nothing

[From no, a. + thing.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordnothing
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[From no, a. + thing.]
Selected historical definitionNot anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); -- opposed to anything and something.
Signed record IDwebster1913-nothing-noun-1aea297553ed
Source locatorCIDE.N, paragraph 3504; Gutenberg eBook 665
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 665Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "nothing" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[From no, a. + thing.]" The selected historical definition says: "Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); -- opposed to anything and something."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-09-05

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released N records

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adverb

Needs

[Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. -wards.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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