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• nine days' wonder
  nine days' wonder

  noun

  an event or thing that arouses considerable but short-lived interest or excitement.
• nine-days wonder
  nine-days wonder

  noun

  something that arouses great interest, but only for a short period

nine days' wonder

American  

noun

1. an event or thing that arouses considerable but short-lived interest or excitement.

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nine-days wonder British  

noun

1. something that arouses great interest, but only for a short period

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nine days' wonder Cultural  

1. Someone or something that is famous and celebrated for only a short time: “Last year the art critics praised Jonas as if he were a master, but he turned out to be a nine days' wonder.”

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Etymology

Origin of nine days' wonder

First recorded in 1585–95

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nine days' wonder nine-days wonder

On "the street" it was a nine days' wonder how so colossal a scheme could be foisted upon them and carried so near a successful culmination, and then, as usual, it was forgotten.

From Rockhaven by Charles Clark Munn

But Kenyon and Bramsdean knew that the achievement would be but a nine days' wonder.

From The Airship "Golden Hind" by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

The affair had exceeded the time of the proverbial "nine days' wonder," and it was only in the City or to those deeply interested that the good news became really known.

From Englefield Grange or Mary Armstrong's Troubles by H. B. Paull

—Did any particular circumstance give rise to the saying, "A nine days' wonder?"

From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 98, September 13, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

But the disappearance of the Florentine letters was a nine days’ wonder.

From Witch Winnie's Mystery, or The Old Oak Cabinet The Story of a King's Daughter by Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Williams) Champney

He may make me a nine-days wonder in the newspapers and a town talk, and never reap the least advantage from it.

From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Charles James Lever

As it was, I turned up rather abruptly in a backwoods settlement where the “furriner” was more than a nine-days wonder.

From Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart

A few days would bring them to that, and the nine-days wonder run its course and lose its interest.

From J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 3 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

To the public, the fascinating prima donna, who had rushed up from the horizon like a brilliant rocket, and disappeared as suddenly, was only a nine-days wonder.

From A Romance of the Republic by Lydia Maria Francis Child

"Only what I said,—that Major Stapylton may furnish the town with a nine-days wonder, vice Captain Duff Brown, forgotten."

From Barrington Volume II (of II) by Charles James Lever

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