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

See Examples For:

like greased lightning

Her crochet hook was racing like greased lightning by then.

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

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

It is exciting sport for the mink is like "greased lightning" in his movements, and if given the least chance will outwit both dog and man and escape.

From Mink Trapping A Book of Instruction Giving Many Methods of Trapping—A Valuable Book for Trappers. by A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding

They're fine, weatherly craft, and with the wind abeam she ought to skip over the bar like greased lightning.

From The Fight for Constantinople A Story of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

He'd stop saving the taxpayers of Multiopolis, and take his car, and go like greased lightning for a little sick girl.

From Michael O'Halloran by Gene Stratton-Porter

Related Words

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