Definition of "nothing"

the players see little or nothing of their cards at first starting

1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.

1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655

Knuckles: The Egg Carrier is nothing compared to this!

2003, Sonic Team USA, Sonic Heroes, Sega, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, level/area: Final Fortress

The answer was an impatient one—but, nothing daunted, he continued.

1855, The Ladies' Repository, volume 15, page 544

The Motion from London to Syria is as much as nothing; and nothing altereth the relation which is between them.

1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems