no-op

/nohop/ , n.,v. alt.: NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine instruction that
does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for
data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries). 2. A
person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going on
upstairs, or both. As in He's a no-op. 3. Any operation or sequence of
operations with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a
parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having it fall
immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being
told to go away. Oh, well, that was a no-op. Hot-and-sour soup (see
great-wall ) that is insufficiently either is no-op soup ; so is wonton soup
if everybody else is having hot-and-sour.