A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

there is a first time for everything • there is a time
for everything
there is a first time for everything —(saying ) because smth.
has not happened before there is no reason to assume that it
never will (also: there’s got to be a first time for everything ): “I’ve
never had a rheumatic ache or pain in my life.” “Well, there’s
a first time for everything, you know, and you’re not so
young…”
there is a time for everything —(saying ) there are circum-
stances in which doing any particular thing is most appropriate
(also: there is a time and a place for everything ): There is a time
for everything you know; hence time for your private life
should not be utilized for official activities.
there is no escape from something • there is no
 escaping something
there is no escape from something —
1
. said of a place from
which one cannot get away: The jagged rocks are forbidding
and dangerous. There is no escape from here. 2. said of a
difficult situation that cannot be avoided or ignored: If there
is no escape from check, it is checkmate and the game is over.
there is no escaping something — = there is no escape from
something 2: There is no escaping the fact that the government
has become very unpopular.
there is no knowing • you never know
there is no knowing —it is impossible to know: There is no
knowing whether President Bush will make further Supreme
Court nominations before leaving office.
you never know —one cannot be quite certain: You’d think
the outcome of that case would be a foregone conclusion, but
then you never know.
there is nothing doing • there is nothing to be
done
there is nothing doing —(also: nothing doing ) 
1
. used as an
that’s my story and I’m sticking to it
– 320 –

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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 pre-
venting other tragedies like this one, nothing that the ordinary
citizen can do.