have no business

English

Verb

have no business (third-person singular simple present has no business, present participle having no business, simple past and past participle had no business)

1. To not have a right or privilege to do something.
   • 2021, Edwards v. Vannoy (U.S. Supreme Court No. 19–5807), Justice Gorsuch concurring:

     We take this step not because this Court's criminal procedure rulings are somehow unimportant.... Instead, we abandon Teague's test because it poses a question this Court has no business asking.

2. To not have a right or privilege to be in a certain place.
   • 2014, Connie Willis, Passage‎^[1]:

     'You have no business being here. You need to go back to the office and sign in. Go down this hall,' he said, pointing, 'and turn right, down the stairs, and then right again.' He ushered her out the door.

Further reading

• “have no business”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “have no business”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “have no business”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “have no business”, in Collins English Dictionary.