• НИ ТПРУ НИ НУ highly coll
[Invar; predic; fixed WO]
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1. [subj: human or collect]
⇒ one does nothing, takes no action (usu. when some action is expected):
- X ни тпру ни ну{{}}≈ X doesn't make a move;
- X doesn't do a (damn) thing;
- X won't budge.
♦ Разве от этих бюрократов чего-нибудь дождёшься? Обещают помочь, а сами - ни тпру ни ну. Do you really expect anything from those bureaucrats? They promise to help, but don't do a damn thing.
2. [subj: abstr or human]
⇒ some work (a person etc) makes no progress:
- X ни тпру ни ну{{}}≈ X isn't getting anywhere;
- X is going nowhere (fast);
- thing X isn't moving at all;
- [in refer, to beginning an undertaking] I <he etc> can't get thing X off the ground.
♦ "...Я уже пятьдесят лет бьюсь над этой проблемой и ни тпру ни ну". (Евтушенко 2). "I've been struggling with the problem for fifty years and still haven't gotten anywhere" (2a).
3. [subj: concr]
⇒ (of a machine, device, apparatus) sth. is not functioning:
- X ни тпру ни ну{{}}≈ X isn't working;
- X is on the blink <on the fritz>.
Большой русско-английский фразеологический словарь. — М.: ACT-ПРЕСС КНИГА. С.И. Лубенская. 2004.