thing of nothing

thing of nothing (plural things of nothing)

1. (Ireland or archaic) Something trivial, of no importance.
   • 1625 Beaumont & Fletcher The Humorous Lieutenant, IV, vi:

     shall then that thing that honours thee―

     how miserable a Thing soever, yet a Thing still ;

     and though a Thing of nothing, thy Thing ever―

   • 1652, Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew‎, Dedication:

     All the arguments I can use to induce you to take notice of this thing of nothing is that it had the luck to tumble last of all in the epidemical ruin of the scene, and now limps hither with a wooden leg to beg an alms at your hands.

   • 1844 June, "Traditions and Tales of Upper Lusatia; I: The Fairies' Sabbath" Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol.55, No.344, p.681 :

     A good Christian has no business with such things of nothing, or worse.

   • 1953 June 11, Seán MacEoin, Dáil debates Vol.139 No.8 p.23 c.1237

     Mind you, I was more prophetic than I thought when I asserted that these millions were nothing to a Government like Fianna Fáil, but the Taoiseach came out in Fermoy on the next Sunday and said that the £22,000,000 was only the remnants of Marshall Aid—the tailor's clippings, only a thing of nothing.

   • 1999, Michael Peter Engelbrite, American King James Version, Amos 6‎, section 31:

     You which rejoice in a thing of nothing, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

   • 2009 July 23, "Lynnie" "Sisley Instant Perfect: Meh. Whelming." beaut.ie

     My foundation might have lasted fractionally longer than usual, but honestly it was a thing of nothing.

   • 2015 September 19, Brendan Lawrence, “A Wicklow hurling dream come true”, in Irish Independent:

     It was only a five-second delay, a thing of nothing in the wider scheme of things, but it was one of those moments you wished would last forever.