Word.ws English Dictionary

you don't get owt for nowt

you don't get owt for nowt is the alternative form of you don't get something for nothing.

Meaning of you don't get something for nothing

Proverb

you don't get something for nothing

  1. One cannot expect to receive some benefit if one does not pay for it in some way or does not face a counterbalancing hazard or harm.
    • There's half the fight won, first off."
      "Osterman bribed him, I suppose," observed Magnus.
      Annixter raised a shoulder vexatiously.
      "You've got to pay for what you get," he returned. "You don't get something for nothing, I guess."1901, Frank Norris, chapter 5, in The Octopus

Questions about you don't get owt for nowt

What is you don't get owt for nowt the alternative form of?
You don't get owt for nowt is the alternative form of you don't get something for nothing.

Words near you don't get owt for nowt in the dictionary

  1. you don't dip your pen in company ink
  2. you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell
  3. you don't dip your pen in the company's ink
  4. you don't dip your pen in the inkwell
  5. you don't fish off the company pier
  6. you don't get owt for nowt
  7. you don't get something for nothing
  8. you don't get your nookie where you get your cookies
  9. you don't know what you're talking about
  10. you don't know what you've got till it's gone
  11. you don't know where it's been

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you don't get owt for nowt (page history and authors); you don't get something for nothing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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