have nothing to lose

English

Verb

have nothing to lose (third-person singular simple present has nothing to lose, present participle having nothing to lose, simple past and past participle had nothing to lose)

  1. To be in a situation that could improve by doing something and that will not be any worse if it fails.
    • (Can we date this quote by Bob Dylan and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
    • 1981 January 23, Generation X, “Dancing With Myself”, in Kiss Me Deadly:
      When there’s nothing to lose and nothing to prove,
      I’ll be dancing with myself; oh, oh, o-oh.
    • 2008, Peter Michael Higgins, Number Story: From Counting to Cryptography, page 141 (Google Books view):
      He is noted for coming up with his 'wager', in which he argued that he was prepared to believe in God on the grounds that he had nothing to lose if he was wrong, and everything to gain should he be right.

See also

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