не ждать, не гадать

• НЕ ДУМАТЬ (НЕ ЖДАТЬ), НЕ ГАДАТЬ; НЕ ДУМАТЬ И НЕ ГАДАТЬ all coll

[VP; subj: human; past only; often foll. by a что-clause; fixed WO]

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⇒ not to suppose, think, expect (sth. or that sth. will happen; said in retrospect after the event in question has already occurred):

- X не думал, не гадал ≈ X never thought or dreamed;

- X never thought (dreamed, imagined);

- it never (even) entered X's head;

- [in limited contexts] X could never have foretold.

     ♦ [Полина Андреевна:] Никто не думал и не гадал, что из вас, Костя, выйдет настоящий писатель (Чехов 6). [RA.:] Nobody ever thought or dreamed that you'd turn out to be a real author, Kostya (6a). [PA.:] Nobody ever dreamed that you'd make a real writer, Kostya (6c).

     ♦ Ардабьев-младший сжимал в руках портфель с крохотным африканским крокодилом, никогда не думавшим не гадавшим попасть со своего озера почти к самому Байкалу (Евтушенко 1). The youngest son gripped the briefcase made with the tiny African crocodile, which could never have foretold that it would find its way from its own waters almost to Lake Baikal itself (1a).