set the Thames on fire

set the Thames on fire

English

WOTD – 9 February 2013

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

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Verb

set the Thames on fire (third-person singular simple present sets the Thames on fire, present participle setting the Thames on fire, simple past and past participle 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 or 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 and 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

Usage notes

Often used with a negation.

Translations

to achieve something amazing

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: հրաշք գործել (hraškʿ gorcel) Chinese: Mandarin: 引起轰动 (yǐnqǐhōngdòng), 惊人之举 (zh) (jīngrénzhījǔ) Czech: please add this translation if you can Dutch: please add this translation if you can French: casser trois pattes à un canard German: die Welt aus den Angeln heben Hindi: अनोखा काम करना (anokhā kām karnā) Italian: please add this translation if you can Japanese: please add this translation if you can Korean: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: meter uma lança em África Russian: вы́думать по́рох pf (výdumatʹ pórox), доста́ть луну с неба (dostátʹ lunu s neba), дотяну́ться до звёзд pf (dotjanútʹsja do zvjózd) Spanish: encender la pradera Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

References

1. 2007, Peter Ackroyd, Thames: Sacred River, page 391.