different between empty vs nothing

English

Etymology

From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ?mti?, ?metti? (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *m?tijô, *m?tô (“must, obligation, need”), *m?tiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ?e?mti?ian (“to empty”), Old English ?metta (“leisure”), Old English m?tan (“must, might, have to”). More at mote, meet.

The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mpti/, /??mti/
• Hyphenation: emp?ty

Adjective

empty (comparative emptier, superlative emptiest)

1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

   an empty purse; an empty jug; an empty stomach

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part Two, Chapter 1, [1]

     […] something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table.
2. (computing, programming, mathematics) Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
3. (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2, [3]

     I shall find you empty of that fault,

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book XI, lines 614-7, [4]

     For that fair femal Troop thou sawst, that seemd / Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, / Yet empty of all good wherein consists / Womans domestic honour and chief praise;

4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act III, Scene 6, [5]

     I hope it remains not unkindly with your lordship that I returned you an empty messenger.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Exodus 3:21, [6]

     And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:

5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.

   empty words, or threats

   empty offer

   empty promises

   • 1697, Colley Cibber, Woman's Wit, Act V, page 190, [7]

     […] words are but empty thanks; my future conduct best will speak my gratitude.

6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.

   empty pleasures

   • 1713, Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest, lines 429-430, [8]

     Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, / Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;

7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.

   empty dreams

8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.

   empty brains; an empty coxcomb

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7, [9]

     Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy distress? Or else a rude despiser of good manners, / That in civility thou seem'st so empty?

9. (of some female animals, especially cows and sheep) Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.

   Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.

10. (obsolete) Producing nothing; unfruitful; said of a plant or tree.

    an empty vine

    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 42:27, [10]

      […] seven empty ears blasted with the east wind […]

Synonyms

• (devoid of content): unoccupied, clear, leer, toom, clean

Antonyms

• full
• (computing, mathematics): non-empty

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

empty (third-person singular simple present empties, present participle emptying, simple past and past participle emptied)

1. (transitive, ergative) To make empty; to void; to remove the contents of.

   to empty a well or a cistern

   The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.

   • The clouds […] empty themselves upon the earth.

2. (intransitive) Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination.

Antonyms

• fill

Derived terms

• empty the clip
• empty the tank

Translations

Noun

empty (plural empties)

1. (usually plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.

Derived terms

• run on empty

Translations

References

Further reading

• empty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• empty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) nuffin, nuffink, nuttin', nuthin, nuthin', nuthing, nothin'

Etymology

From Middle English nothyng, noon thing, non thing, na þing, nan thing, nan þing, from Old English n?þing, n?n þing (“nothing”, literally “not any thing”), equivalent to no +? thing. Compare Old English n?wiht (“nothing”, literally “no thing”), Swedish ingenting (“nothing”, literally “not any thing, no thing”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?th'?ng, IPA^(key): /?n????/
• Rhymes: -????
• Hyphenation: noth?ing
• Rhymes: -??

Pronoun

nothing (indefinite pronoun)

1. Not any thing; no thing.
2. An absence of anything, including empty space, brightness, darkness, matter, or a vacuum.

Synonyms

• (not any thing):
  • (standard): not a thing, naught
  • (slang): jack, nada, zip, zippo, zilch, squat, nix
  • (vulgar slang): bugger all, jack shit, sod all (British), fuck all, dick
  • (Northern English dialect): nowt

See Thesaurus:nothing

• (something trifling): nothing of any consequence, nothing consequential, nothing important, nothing significant, something inconsequential, something insignificant, something of no consequence, something trifling, something unimportant

Antonyms

• anything
• everything
• something

Translations

Noun

nothing (countable and uncountable, plural nothings)

1. Something trifling, or of no consequence or importance.

   - What happened to your face?
   - It's nothing.

   • 1673, Jeremy Taylor, Heniaytos: A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year […]

     Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.
2. A trivial remark (especially in the term sweet nothings).
3. A nobody (insignificant person).

   You're nothing to me now!

Translations

Adverb

nothing (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Not at all; in no way.

Derived terms

Related terms

Coordinate terms

• nobody, no one
• nowhere

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “nothing”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN