there is nothing doing—(also: nothing doing )
1. used as an announcement of refusal of a request:
- Then my girl asked me to marry her. I told her there was nothing doing.
2. used as a declaration of failure in an attempt:
- I tried to find her a place to stay. But there was nothing doing in Rummidge that night.
3. no business is going on; things are very quiet:
- Mr. Winder is Justice of the Peace of Cedarville township, but says there is “nothing doing” in his court these days.
there is nothing to be done—there is nothing that one can do about a situation:
- There is nothing to be done about preventing other tragedies like this one, nothing that the ordinary citizen can do.