This business will never hold water.

The phrase uses a physical metaphor—something that cannot “hold water” leaks or fails under basic practical testing—to dismiss a plan, argument, or enterprise as unsound. Attributed to Colley Cibber, it fits the idiom of theatrical and conversational English in which “business” can mean a scheme, line of reasoning, or stage action. Read this way, the remark is a brisk verdict: whatever is being proposed will not stand up to scrutiny, will not work in practice, or cannot be sustained. Its enduring value is its compactness: it conveys skepticism without needing detailed refutation, implying that the flaw is fundamental rather than merely technical.