no strings attached

alternative no string attached · alternative NSA

1. idiomaticinformalWithout conditions or obligations; without a catch.

   For a friend I’ll help out for free, no strings attached.

   5 more examples

   In the present century marriage is preceded by a betrothment, gifts are usually interchanged (but with no strings attached), and a causeless withdrawal therefrom by either party is considered infamous.

   1883 March 24, “Current Topics. Marriage.”, in W. T. Baggett, editor, Pacific Coast Law Journal, […], volume XI, number 5, San Francisco, Calif.: Pacific Coast Law Printing and Publishing Co., […], →OCLC, pages 90–91

   Mr. [James Gillespie] Blaine's declination—it is always understood that we assume there is no string attached to his letter—is undoubtedly a wise move on his part.

   1892 February 17, “Cartoons and Comments”, in H[enry] C[uyler] Bunner, editor, Puck, volume XXX, number 780, New York, N.Y.: Keppler & Schwarzmann, →OCLC, page 430, column 2

   Listen. We've kept it quiet, but she's in with the elect on French Hill. Her claim's prospected the richest of the outfit. Present indication half a million at least. In her own name, no strings attached. Couldn't she take that and go anywhere in the world and reinstate herself?

   1902 October, Jack London, chapter XXI, in A Daughter of the Snows, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 224

   "No," I assured him, after receiving his cordial welcome, "my offer had no string attached. I'm more than ready to help in any way I can, to find a niche for you in this old town and fit you into it. It doesn't matter where you hail from, or how you got here; New York is an all-comers' race, and the devil take the hindmost."

   1919, Carolyn Wells, “Case Rivers”, in The Man Who Fell through the Earth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 170

   Would he ask her out (if he ever did) just for herself, no strings attached?

   1953 (date written), Sylvia Plath, “Initiation”, in Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: And Other Prose Writings, London: Faber and Faber, published 1977, →ISBN, page 151

   Synonyms: unconditionally, ziplessly