nine-day wonder

Definitions

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

idiomatic

Equivalents

2 more languages

हिन्दीचार दिन की चाँदनी

Polskisłomiany ogień

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