steal someone’s thunder
to do something before a rival does it
TRANSLATION
steal someone’s thunder = jmd. die Schau stehlen, jmd. den Wind aus den Segeln nehmen, jdm. zuvorkommen
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
“He was the scientist who made one of the planet’s most significant discoveries: the existence of dinosaurs. Yet Gideon Mantell’s place in history has for two centuries been overshadowed by a rival who STOLE HIS THUNDER.”
Rob Walker - The Guardian
Did you
know?
steal someone’s thunder
idiom
- to do what someone else was going to do before they do it, especially if this takes success or praise away from them
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
—
ORIGIN
John Dennis, a 17th century playwright and critic, invented a new method of simulating the sound of thunder in the theatre and used it in his own unsuccessful play "Appius and Virginia".
The play closed after a short run, but Dennis later attended a performance of Macbeth by a rival company and discovered they had stolen his thunder effect. He furiously exclaimed:
“Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder!”
—
Thunder has its roots in the Old English thunor and is related to words such as the Old Frisian “thuner,” the Dutch “donder,” the German “Donner,” the Persian “tundar”, and the Latin “tonare,” meaning “to thunder.”
—
SYNONYM
to steal a march on someone, to upstage someone, to detract from someone’s accomplishments or glory
—
Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:
“The competition STOLE THEIR THUNDERwith their new campaign.”
—
HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:
https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3
Paul Smith
