No dice
Meaning
An expression indicating that an attempt was unsuccessful or a request has been denied.
Origin
Step up to the craps table, chips stacked high, a hush falling as the dice are rolled. The hopes of a win hang in the air, but then, the wrong numbers clatter across the felt. "No dice," the stickman declares, either because the roll was invalid, or more commonly, because the outcome was a definitive loss—no favorable result was achieved. From the intense drama of the casino, where fate is decided by a throw of the cubes, the phrase leaped into general use to signify any attempt that has failed, or any request that has been flatly denied, echoing the finality of a losing roll.
Examples
- I tried to convince my boss to give me the day off, but no dice.
- We searched everywhere for the lost keys, but it was no dice.