Meaning of nine-day wonder | Babel Free

Definitions

Something that generates interest for a limited time and is then abandoned.

idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] I am content this vvinter to haue my doings read for a toye, that in ſommer they may be ready for traſh. It is not ſtraunge vvhen as the greateſt vvonder laſteth but nyne dayes, that a nevve vvorke ſhould not endure but three monethes.”

“This that I did vvas for a policie, / To ſmooth and keepe the murther ſecret, / VVhich at a nine daies vvonder being ore-blovvne, / My gentle ſiſter vvill I novv inlarge.”

“I vvas ſeuen of the nine daies out of the vvonder, before you came:[…]”

“VVould that vvere the vvorſt: / That vvere but nine dayes vvonder, […]”

“But vvhen the frequent Soule-departing Bell / Has pav'd their eares vvith her familiar knell, / It is reputed but a nine dayes vvonder, / They neither feare the Thund'rer, nor his Thunder; […]”

“The pleasant scandal which arose next day, / The nine days' wonder which was brought to light, / And how Alfonso sued for a divorce, / Were in the English newspapers, of course.”

“Everybody else was thinking of his breakdown; some with real sorrow and sympathy; others as of any other nine-days' wonder,—pretty much as if the favorite for the Derby had broken down; others with ill-concealed triumph, for Blake had many enemies amongst the men.”

“[O]ut of Germany come mesmerism and all the other "isms" that pass for nine-day wonders.”

“Well, dear editor, I suppose you are, like myself, wearied with the "nine-day wonder," and I will merely add that I have thought it possible that in this case, as in many others I have known, the amniotic sac, by some means, was ruptured and the fluid all passed out.”

“As the matter is to be a "nine days' wonder," they are evidently determined that there shall be no cause of after complaint.”

“Harold Russell, who plays handless Homer Parrish in The Best Years of Our Lives, is not only a nine-day wonder in the movies but also one of the best-adjusted veterans of World War II. The most widely publicized double amputee of the war, Russell realizes that, though there is talk of his getting an Academy Award, he is strictly a one-shot and will probably act in no more movies.”

“In his letter to this journal Mr. Lawrence remarked that some traders were waiting to see if "Condor" was merely a nine days' wonder before scheduling its use by their goods.”

“So far as we're concerned, the ashes of Endymion can stay buried for another two hundred years—or another two million. It doesn't matter; come the day when somebody stumbles over the tombstones, they'll just be an archaeological find: a nine day wonder. By then, we'll be out among the stars. Earth will be just our cradle.”

“It's actually rather easy to assess the scientific influence of, for instance, fractals or chaos. […] You can't dismiss something as a nine-day wonder when it has survived for nine thousand days and is currently thriving.”

“Ed[ward] Feigenbaum and I enjoyed the giddy experience of being nine-day wonders. Yes, it's fun to walk along Madison Avenue and see your own book in bookshop windows.”

CEFR level