[Ads-l] It is what it is

[Steven Losie]

IT IS WHAT IT IS
No entry in OED. Merriam-Webster does not have one, either.
Dictionary.com gives the definition: "the situation cannot be helped and
must be taken in stride". They date the idiom to at least as early as 1949.

[begin quote]
The incomprehensiblenesse of _Almighty_ GOD, as it is usually said by us;
when wee are asked a thing, that we will not reveale any further, or that
we would not have another to prie any further into, we say, It is, what it
is; so _God_ saith to Moses, _I am, what I am_.
[end quote]
Source: Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence
and attributes Delivered in XVIII. Sermons…(London, 1631), p.95
Author: John Preston
Publisher: Richard Badger
Repository: Early English Books Online
Link:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A09977.0001.001/1:9?rgn=div1;submit=Go;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=further+into

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