set the Thames on fire

动词 v.
中文释义

英文释义

动词 v.
  1. To achieve something amazing but to a nearly-impossible degree; to do something which brings great public acclaim. idiomatic
    — The baronet will never set the Thames on fire, but there seems no harm in him.

词形变化

sets the Thames on fire present,singular,third-person setting the Thames on fire participle,present set the Thames on fire participle,past set the Thames on fire past

词源

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. Otherwise simply by hyperbole, from the improbability of setting a river on fire (although the image might sound like a familiar reference to the Great London fire of 1666).
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