set the Thames on fire

English

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. 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. (chiefly in the negative, idiomatic) To achieve something amazing but to a nearly-impossible degree; to do something which brings great public acclaim.

   Synonym: set the world on fire

   • 1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. , volumes (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, , 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

     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, published 1996, page 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”, in The Collected Works, Ignatius Press, published 2005, page 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.

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