she stole his thunder
she took all the attention away from him
TRANSLATION
steal someone's thunder = jemandem die Schau stehlen --- GOOGLE INDEX steal someone's thunder: approximately 2,700,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
David Beckham STEALS Roman Abramovich's THUNDER
(The London Daily Mail - News Headline)
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"The jury remains very much out on whether OS 6.0 will be a sufficiently radical rework to steal thunder from its major rivals."
Rethink Wireless Newsletter, "Snazzier Laptops Steal Netbooks' Thunder"
(The London Daily Mail - News Headline)
---
"The jury remains very much out on whether OS 6.0 will be a sufficiently radical rework to steal thunder from its major rivals."
Rethink Wireless Newsletter, "Snazzier Laptops Steal Netbooks' Thunder"
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)
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In 1709, British playwright John Dennis wrote a piece called Appius and Virginia. As part of the production, he invented a new way to simulate the sound of thunder. The new method was never documented, but some people believe he enhanced a then common technique that involved rolling metal balls around a wooden mustard bowl.
The thunder simulator apparently worked, but it wasn't enough to keep the play from shutting down because the public didn't like it. Some time later Dennis returned to the same theatre for a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. To his dismay, he discovered they were using his thunder "machine."
He was then quoted as responding, "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder." The accuracy of the quote has been debated, with others reporting that he actually said, "That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder but not my play!" Regardless of the actual quote, the sense of the expression has survived over the centuries.
Etymology
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."
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"The competition stole our thunder with their new campaign."
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)
---
In 1709, British playwright John Dennis wrote a piece called Appius and Virginia. As part of the production, he invented a new way to simulate the sound of thunder. The new method was never documented, but some people believe he enhanced a then common technique that involved rolling metal balls around a wooden mustard bowl.
The thunder simulator apparently worked, but it wasn't enough to keep the play from shutting down because the public didn't like it. Some time later Dennis returned to the same theatre for a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. To his dismay, he discovered they were using his thunder "machine."
He was then quoted as responding, "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder." The accuracy of the quote has been debated, with others reporting that he actually said, "That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder but not my play!" Regardless of the actual quote, the sense of the expression has survived over the centuries.
Etymology
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."
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"The competition stole our thunder with their new campaign."
