| nothing | 1. Not anything; no thing (in the widest sense of the word thing); opposed to anything and something. "Yet had his aspect nothing of severe." (Dryden) 2. Nonexistence; nonentity; absence of being; nihility; nothingness. 3. A thing of no account, value, or note; something irrelevant and impertinent; something of comparative unimportance; utter insignificance; a trifle. "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought." (Is. Xli. 24) "'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end." (Dryden) 4. <mathematics> A cipher; naught. Nothing but, only; no more than. To make nothing of. 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." . Not to understand; as, I could make nothing of what he said. Origin: From no, a. + thing. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| all-or-nothing phenomenon | <physiology> Refers to the phenomenon where the strength of a nerve impulse is not dependent on the strength of the stimulus. Instead, there is a threshold level of stimulus strength that must be reached before the nerve will fire an impulse (at full capacity). Below the threshold, the nerve will not fire at all. <cardiology> It also refers to the same phenomenon observed in the heart muscle, which will either contract fully or not at all. <psychology> In studies of behaviour, it refers to the same phenomenon where a behavioural stimulus will either produce a complete response or no response at all. Also called all-or-nothing principle, all-or-none law, all-or-none responsiveness, etc. (15 Nov 1997) |
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