set the Thames on fireとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Unknown. Suggested to derive from a misconstrual of temse (“sieve”): thus, to work so vigorously as to heat a sieve by friction. Alternatively, a reference to lightning strikes which sometimes occurred along the Thames, occasionally setting trees on fire or causing death in unusual manner.^[1] Otherwise simply by hyperbole, from the impossibility of setting a river on fire.

発音

動詞

set the Thames on fire (三人称単数 現在形 sets the Thames on fire, 現在分詞 setting the Thames on fire, 過去形および過去分詞形 set the Thames on fire)

1. (idiomatic) To achieve something amazing; to do something which brings great public acclaim.
   • 1817 December​, [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III または IV), London: John Murray, […], 1818, OCLC 318384910:

     The baronet will never set the Thames on fire, but there seems no harm in him.

   • 1884, WS Gilbert, ‘Princess Ida’, The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, Oxford University Press 1996, p. 491:

     They intend to send a wire / To the moon — to the moon; / And they'll set the Thames on fire / Very soon — very soon

   • 1925, GK Chesterton, ‘The Ultimate Ultimatum of the League of the Long Bow’, The Collected Works, Ignatius Press 2005, p. 402:

     Do you remember when you jumped into the water after the flowers? I fancy it was then you really set the Thames on fire.

   • 1985, Tom Waits (lyrics かつ music), “Anywhere I Lay My Head”:

     My head is spinning round / my heart is in my shoes, yeah / I went and set the Thames on fire, oh / now I must come back down.

   Synonym: set the world on fire

使用する際の注意点

Often used with a negation.

参照