nowhere, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

nowhere adj.

1. hopelessly beaten, esp. in a race.

1755		Gent.’s Mag. XXV 153: His powerful deep rate, by which all the horses that ran against him were no-where .
1793		Sporting Mag. Sept. II 335/1: The Captain being called upon to declare, he pronounced ‘Eclipse and nothing else;’ implying the rest to be ‘no where;’ which was really the case.
1850		W.C. Hall ‘Mike Hooter’s Bar Story’ Spirit of the Times 26 Jan. (N.Y.) 581: They ain’t no whar, for the big black customer what circumlocates down in our neck o’ woods beats ’em all hollow.
1856		‘The Druid’ Post and Paddock 143: Mustard was ‘nowhere’ to Gulnare in the Oaks.
1864		Bombay Gaz. 27 Sept. 3/: [orig. US source] As regards the candidates fee the Presidency the Times correspondent at new York says that General Fremont is, in the current slang, ‘nowhere’.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 139: The brave panther, once he has crossed the threshold of that splendid damsel [...] is, vulgarly speaking, ‘nowhere’.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms.
1885		M. Oliphant Madam 161: He says it’s dreadful fun; you are kept in such a state till the last moment, not knowing which is to win. Sometimes the favourite is simply nowhere.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 53: Nowhere, horses not placed in a race.

2. (orig. US) utterly confused, very mixed up.

1840		R. Barham ‘Lay of the Old Woman Clothed in Grey’ Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 266: To be ‘all abroad’ – to be ‘stump’d’ – not know where / To go – so disgraced / As not to be ‘placed,’ / Or, as Crocky would say to Jem Bland, ‘to be nowhere’.
1859		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (2nd edn) 297: To be nowhere is to be at sea; to be utterly at a loss; to be ignorant .
1868		De Bow’s Mag. July in Schele De Vere (1872) 620: When he began to ask me questions about surgery, I was just nowhere, and I can’t tell, to save my life, what I said to him.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 620: Nowhere, to be, denotes [...] complete ignorance.
1878		J.H. Beadle Western Wilds 183: And as for whiskey, wh-e-u-w! It was sod corn barefooted. The valley-tan these Mormons make ain’t nowhere.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Clue’ Sporting Times 19 Sept. 1/3: He had nothing but derision for the Scotland Yard division, / They were nowhere, whereas he was number one.
1942		Amer. Mercury July 86: I ain’t nowhere.
1954		Kerouac letter May in Charters I (1995) 414: I realized he is really nowhere, face it.
1960		Mad mag. June 49: Though the message was from nowhere – though he really was a bore.
1972		D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 73: nowhere adj. […] 2. strange; unusual. See also way out.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Culture 19 Mar. 14: Attempts by [...] the chef, to create a cuisine fusing the disparate regional themes of this nowhere eatery.

3. (orig. US) useless, pointless, stupid, unimpressive.

1847		J.M. Field Drama in Pokerville 14: Varmints were ‘no whar’ in comparison with [...] real live actors!
1878		H.B. Stowe Poganuc People 93: Straw bonnets were ‘nowhere.’ To have a Leghorn was the thing.
1944		Band Leaders and Record Rev. May in Gold (1964) 59: That ickies are nowhere, is pointed by an expression they use.
c.1951		N. Algren ‘Watch Out for Daddy’ in Entrapment (2009) 115: Daddy [...] this stuff [i.e. marijuana] is nowhere. Why take just anything?
1953		‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 48: Nowhere punks [...] If I catch one of them on the west Side line I’ll push the little bastard onto the tracks.
1964		J. Baldwin Blues for Mister Charlie 32: How do you stand it [...] Living down here with all these nowhere people.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 173: Get the hell outta here, you goddam nowhere asshole!
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 48: You pull down on a dude with that nowhere piece.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hollywood Fuck Pad’ Destination: Morgue! (2004) 220: It’s a nowhere fruit snuff.
2005		J. Stahl ‘Twilight of the Stooges’ Love Without (2007) 147: It’s 1980-something. I’m nowhere.

nowherian (n.) (also nowhereian) [Carib.E. nowherian, one who has no religious affiliation]

(W.I.) anyone deemed unrespectable; a layabout, an unkempt-looking person who is characterized as a tramp.

1960

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

nowhere city (n.) (also nowheresville) [-city sfx/-ville sfx¹]

a situation, place or person who/which is seen as irrelevant, pointless, of no use at all.

1959		H. Ellison ‘May We Also Speak’ Gentleman Junkie (1961) 33: He made a small wave in the general direction of nowheresville.
1960		Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 4 Dec. 9/4: A wallet thinner than a double hamburger is considered late — it makes a girl look like she’s been to Nowheresville.
1965		A. Lurie Nowhere City 26: I want to get out of this phoney nowhere city.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 258: My ‘personal life’ was on that fast slide to narco-Nowheresville.
2003		M. Lewis G-Dev on Grand Development 🌐 Grand is a 16 year old male residing in a nowhere city called: Nevada City.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 159: Gets a scholarship [to Yale] from, Nowheresville and what does she do?

ain’t nowhere (adj.)

(US black) worthless, devoid of value.

1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 1 Feb. 10/3: Any man can be a square to waste his time with a chick that really ain’t nowhere.
1954		W.G. Smith South Street 286: ‘Look here, baby, that stuff ain’t nowhere,’ the musician had said. He had made a grimace toward the marihuana cigarette. [...] ‘You ought to try the real stuff. The needle’.