for beans

1 9.3

Worth nothing at all

idiom

Archaic

: para nada

I can't play the piano for beans, but I still enjoy trying.

Examples

She doesn't care for beans about what people think of her.
That old car isn't worth for beans after all these years.
This project is not for beans.
I don't care for beans about your excuses.
I don't care for beans what you think; my opinion is final.
He didn't try for beans to impress her during the meeting.
This old car isn't worth for beans, so I think I'll sell it.

Antonyms

significant

∞ 2.5

Important and big enough to make a difference

valuable

700 2.5

Very useful and important, for example advice or skills

How Valuable

priceless

112 4.2

valuable

700 2.5

useful

865 1.0

dime's worth

Informal

4 8.1

for beans

Archaic

1 9.3

Surface Forms

for beans positive

Morphology

for + beans

The meaning 'of no value; not at all' is not directly inferable from the literal words 'for' (a preposition) and 'beans' (a food item). Although English has bean-related idioms (e.g. 'not worth a hill of beans'), the small-clause pattern 'for beans' is idiomatic and the semantic link is metaphorical and language-specific, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would unlikely predict the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

For beans may come from the idea that beans were very cheap food, so saying something was worth only beans meant it had little value. That's why for beans now means 'not at all' or 'not worth anything'.