like greased lightning

Idioms  

1. Also, like a blue streak; like the wind; like blazes. Very fast indeed, as in He climbed that ladder like greased lightning, or She kept on talking like a blue streak, or The children ran like the wind when they heard there'd be free ice cream. The likening of speed to lightning dates from the 1500s, and grease was added in the early 1800s to further accentuate the idea of haste. The first variant, blue streak, also dates from the early 1800s and alludes to something resembling lightning. The wind in the second variant has been a metaphor for swiftness since ancient Roman times. The blazes in the last variant, first recorded in 1925, alludes to fire or lightning.

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Example Sentences

I went down it like greased lightning and came out at the bottom of it and once again I was on the floor.

From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl

Her crochet hook was racing like greased lightning by then.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

One year they had spent hours working it up so that you slipped along like greased lightning as you danced.

From The Black Opal by Prichard, Katharine Susannah

Wow! say, did you notice me acoming down that tree outside like greased lightning?

From The Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island or Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers by Carter, Herbert

“Should the breeze increase, she will walk away from us like greased lightning, as the Yankees say,” observed Adair.

From The Three Commanders by Dugdale, Thomas Cantrell

Related Words

• quick
• quickly
• rapidly
• soon
• swift
• swiftly