Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

set the thames on fire

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.71 in modern English

Syllables: set the thames on -fire
IPA

29

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

2

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To achieve something amazing but to a nearly-impossible degree; to do something which brings great public acclaim.

Example Sentences

"The baronet will never set the Thames on fire, but there seems no harm in him."
"They intend to send a wire / To the moon — to the moon; / And they'll set the Thames on fire / Very soon — very soon"
"Do you remember when you jumped into the water after the flowers? I fancy it was then you really set the Thames on fire."
"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."

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 improbability of setting a river on fire (although the image might sound like a familiar reference to the Great London fire of 1666).

Inflected Forms

sets the Thames on fire (present, singular) setting the Thames on fire (participle, present)

Synonyms

set the world on fire

Questions

What does set the thames on fire mean?: To achieve something amazing but to a nearly-impossible degree; to do something which brings great public acclaim.
Where does set the thames on fire come from?: 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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