set the Thames on fire

短语

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发音

AU

词形变化

sets the Thames on fire 三单 sets the Thames on fire setting the Thames on fire setting the Thames on fire 现在分词

释义与例句

v.
  1. 1.

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

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    惊人之举

    习语

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).

来源：wiktionary