like nobody's business
7
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
como si no hubiera un mañana
- I mean, he entertains like nobody's business.
- play like nobody's business
But I will say I just got to paint my nails, and it boosted my mood like nobody's business.
- But I will say I just got to paint my nails, and it boosted my mood like nobody's business.
- I mean, just like nobody's business.
- Snatch up those tickets because pumps is going to be snatched out on stage like nobody's business.
Examples
-
Freb can order pizzas like nobody's business.
-
Soon I was pretty damned hammered, playing like an idiot, missing cues, blurting the head of the tunes over other players' solos, cracking notes like nobody's business.
Fiction book (1998) -
I can write like nobody's business.
Blog text (19) -
Work out like nobody's business.
Blog text (10) -
Cuts traffic like nobody's business.
-
Got debts like nobody's business.
-
I can rock a retro wiggle dress like nobody's business.
Blog text (22) -
She's glamorous, she accessorizes well, and she can go day to night like nobody's business.
-
After Castille's order, Walton County seawall construction took off like nobody's business.
Academic text (2006) -
She dances like nobody's business at every party.
Synonyms
75
7.9
Happening very quickly, with great effort or very strongly
13
8.1
Act very quickly and with great effort
1
9.2
To do something very quickly or with great effort
Antonyms
How Intense
- Informal
7
8.2
129
3.1
144
3.4
816
2.0
885
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + nobody's + business
The phrase functions as a colloquial intensifier whose sense 'to a great degree' is not directly derived from the literal parts 'like' + 'nobody's' + 'business' (which would literally mean 'as if it were no one's concern'). The connection between the constituents and the idiomatic meaning is not predictable for an average B1 learner without prior exposure, so it should be treated as opaque.
Etymology
Like nobody's business may come from old everyday talk where nobody's business meant something done without limit or care. So when you say someone does something like nobody's business, you picture them doing it with huge energy or speed, which is why it now means 'very intensely'.