ни кола ни двора

• НИ КОЛА НИ ДВОРА (у кого) coll

[NPgen; Invar; subj/ gen with не быть or obj of не иметь; fixed WO]

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⇒ s.o. has absolutely nothing (usu. refers to s.o.'s extreme poverty, need, occas. to s.o.'s having no place to live):

- у X-a ни кола ни двора ≈ X doesn't have a thing (to his name);

- X has neither house nor home.

     ♦ [Золотуев:] Посадил он того продавца на десять лет... И вот выходит наш продавец на свободу. Садился - жена у него оставалась, интересная баба. На пятнадцать лет моложе его была. А вернулся - ни кола ни двора. Ни одной близкой души (Вампилов 3). [Z.:] He put that salesman in prison for ten years. ...And then our salesman comes out. When he went in he still had a wife, a nice-looker. Fifteen years younger than him. But when he came back-What's he got? Nothing. Not a thing. Not one person he could turn to (3a).

     ♦ Почему вдова переехала из Ивановки сюда, где у неб ни кола, ни двора?.. (Рыбаков 1). Why did the widow move from Ivanovka to this place, where she had neither house nor home?... (1a).