Dictionary

have nothing on en · VERB

Meanings

1. (US, transitive) To be short of accusatory evidence against (a person).
   • “We’re goin’ to hang you higher ’n’ Haman, you damned kidnappers an’ murderers,” yelled a man in the crowd. “Why don’t you give us a chance?” asked Bridge in an even tone, unaltered by fear or excitement. “You’ve nothing on us. As a matter of fact we are both innocent—” “Oh, shut your damned mouth,” interrupted another of the crowd. 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Chapter X”, in The Oakdale Affair:
   • Relax. The cops have nothing on us. All they can prove is that we were in the same town on the same day.
   • “Abe, I 've come down to gather you in,” announced the calmly mendacious detective. He continued to sip his bruilleau with fraternal unconcern. “You got nothing on me, Jim,” protested the other, losing his taste for the delicacies arrayed about him. “Well, we got 'o go down to Headquarters and talk that over,” calmly persisted Blake. 1913, Arthur Stringer, “Chapter 5a”, in The Shadow:
   • “You’ve nothing on me—don't try bluffing me, Mr. West! You can't do it. […] You know damned well you can't prove anything on me, and I know it too!” 1919, H. Bedford-Jones, “IX. I Meet John Talkso”, in The House of Skulls:
   • “Now you have nothing on me, Senator, except my name on lists of names from Iraq, many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad. If you had any of the letters against me that you had against Zhirinovsky, and even Pasqua, they would have been up there in your slideshow for the members of your committee today.”
   • ‘But I should like to give you a piece of professional information; and that is, that the law has an ugly name for persons like you, and an uncomfortable remedy for—’ Cradock was quite at his ease again. ‘But you must first catch your hare, my dear Sir Anthony. To employ an expression which I picked up in the United States of America, you have nothing on me.’ ‘For the moment I admit that I have nothing on you—’ ‘So that’s that!’ Cradock turned away lightly, as if to address Mildred. 1925, Ian Hay, “Chapter XX: The Loyalist”, in Paid In Full:
2. (transitive) To lack an advantage over, to not be in a better position than, to be nonsuperior to.
   • His Mustang has nothing on her Corvette. [ = both cars are fast, and his cannot beat hers, although perhaps her car is not much faster (ambiguous)]
   • “Gad, what a green!” said Mr. Mott, pop-eyed. “Like a billiard-table. We’ve got an English greenskeeper; he’s a wonder. Sleepy Hollow and Pine Valley have nothing on us.” 1917, Holworthy Hall, “If you don't Mind my Telling you”, in Century, pages 377–393:
   • “And I say unto you, no pious person could gaze down upon that scene without recognizing fully the Bible picture of the Pit of Hell. Believe me, the writers of the New Testament had nothing on us. […]” 1919, Jack London, “When Alice Told her Soul”, in On the Makaloa Mat: Island Tales:
3. (qualifier:via understatement, sometimes, transitive) To lack an advantage over, to not be in a better position than, to be nonsuperior to. ▸ To be considerably inferior to.
   • I would take an hour in consuming that one cracker. I took the smallest nibbles, never losing a crumb, and chewed the nibble till it became the thinnest and most delectable of pastes. I never voluntarily swallowed this paste. I just tasted it, and went on tasting it, turning it over with my tongue, spreading it on the inside of this cheek, then on the inside of the other cheek, until, at the end, it eluded me and in tiny drops and oozelets, slipped and dribbled down my throat. Horace Fletcher had nothing on me when it came to soda crackers. 1913, Jack London, “Chapter V”, in John Barleycorn:
   • Even the quickest street-legal cars in town have nothing on a Top Fuel dragster. [ = understated sense: a Top Fuel dragster is considerably quicker]

Forms

Relateds

have shit on · do one better · get one over on