Hobson's choice
WordNet
noun
(1) The choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all
WiktionaryText
Etymology
After Thomas Hobson (1544-1631) of Cambridge, England, who rented horses and gave his customers the choice of the horse nearest the stable door or no horse at all.
Noun
- The choice of taking either the primary option or nothing.
- 1847, James Fenimore Cooper, The Crater, ch. 23,
- When Hobson's choice is placed before one, deliberation is of no great use.
- 1887, George Bernard Shaw, An Unsocial Socialist, ch. 5,
- In other words, they might go to the devil and starve—Hobson's choice!—for all the other factories were owned by men who offered no better terms.
- 1847, James Fenimore Cooper, The Crater, ch. 23,