See lightning in a bottle on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Originally (19th century) a literal reference to Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment, capturing electricity from lightning and storing it in a Leyden jar, along with variants such as bottled lightning.\nLater used in baseball context in sense “difficult feat”, from circa 1941, attributed to Leo Durocher. Wider use grew in 1980s and 1990s, particularly in sense “great, fleeting success”, and popular since 2000s.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "lightning in a bottle (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1941, Nevada State Journal, 8 October 1941",
"text": "The Yanks were the dominant team throughout, outhitting, outfielding, outpitching and outmaneuvering the Dodgers. Brooklyn was not outgamed but the Dodgers, to use Lippy Leo Durocher’s favorite expression, went out to try to catch lightning in a bottle."
},
{
"ref": "1992, Herbert F. Crehan, Lightning in a Bottle: The Sox of ’67",
"text": "Their fate remained in doubt until the very last game of the season. This truly was a team that captured lightning in a bottle."
}
],
"glosses": [
"That which one seeks in attempting a difficult or challenging feat."
],
"id": "en-lightning_in_a_bottle-en-noun-on11Wrb~",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) That which one seeks in attempting a difficult or challenging feat."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2011, Jeff May, The Wall Street Journal, “After the One-Hit Wonder: They hit it big. Really big. But then what?”, June 13, 2011",
"text": "We tracked down four people who introduced some of the most popular fad items of the past few decades to find out how they handled their sudden prosperity—and rapid exit from the limelight. Some were relaxing and enjoying their spoils. Others were trying to capture lightning in a bottle one more time."
},
{
"ref": "2013, Matt Hartley, “No plan B: How BlackBerry has been a hostage to its own early success”, Financial Post, 2013–08–17",
"text": "Just like rock bands, authors and Hollywood stars, technology companies can often attribute their rise to the top to a single smash hit. For those lucky few who are talented and lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle, that single No. 1 album, best-selling book or syndicated television program can be enough to carry their career, and them, for a lifetime."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A very difficult, unlikely or lucky achievement or period of success."
],
"id": "en-lightning_in_a_bottle-en-noun-82~ZaOFH",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A very difficult, unlikely or lucky achievement or period of success."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "4 54 37 5",
"sense": "great, fleeting success",
"word": "one-hit wonder"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "9 2 83 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 3 82 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 2 84 5",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Ephemeral state or atmosphere, as at a startup company or artistic group."
],
"id": "en-lightning_in_a_bottle-en-noun-2NZZ~9eN",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Ephemeral state or atmosphere, as at a startup company or artistic group."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lightning, bottle."
],
"id": "en-lightning_in_a_bottle-en-noun-eO9q2sUy",
"links": [
[
"lightning",
"lightning#English"
],
[
"bottle",
"bottle#English"
]
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "13 6 12 69",
"word": "flash in the pan"
},
{
"_dis1": "13 6 12 69",
"word": "nice guys finish last"
},
{
"_dis1": "13 6 12 69",
"word": "tempest in a teapot"
}
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-lightning in a bottle.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/45/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Leo Durocher",
"Leyden jar",
"Michael Quinion",
"kite experiment"
],
"word": "lightning in a bottle"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English uncountable nouns",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "Originally (19th century) a literal reference to Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment, capturing electricity from lightning and storing it in a Leyden jar, along with variants such as bottled lightning.\nLater used in baseball context in sense “difficult feat”, from circa 1941, attributed to Leo Durocher. Wider use grew in 1980s and 1990s, particularly in sense “great, fleeting success”, and popular since 2000s.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "lightning in a bottle (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "flash in the pan"
},
{
"word": "nice guys finish last"
},
{
"word": "tempest in a teapot"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1941, Nevada State Journal, 8 October 1941",
"text": "The Yanks were the dominant team throughout, outhitting, outfielding, outpitching and outmaneuvering the Dodgers. Brooklyn was not outgamed but the Dodgers, to use Lippy Leo Durocher’s favorite expression, went out to try to catch lightning in a bottle."
},
{
"ref": "1992, Herbert F. Crehan, Lightning in a Bottle: The Sox of ’67",
"text": "Their fate remained in doubt until the very last game of the season. This truly was a team that captured lightning in a bottle."
}
],
"glosses": [
"That which one seeks in attempting a difficult or challenging feat."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) That which one seeks in attempting a difficult or challenging feat."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2011, Jeff May, The Wall Street Journal, “After the One-Hit Wonder: They hit it big. Really big. But then what?”, June 13, 2011",
"text": "We tracked down four people who introduced some of the most popular fad items of the past few decades to find out how they handled their sudden prosperity—and rapid exit from the limelight. Some were relaxing and enjoying their spoils. Others were trying to capture lightning in a bottle one more time."
},
{
"ref": "2013, Matt Hartley, “No plan B: How BlackBerry has been a hostage to its own early success”, Financial Post, 2013–08–17",
"text": "Just like rock bands, authors and Hollywood stars, technology companies can often attribute their rise to the top to a single smash hit. For those lucky few who are talented and lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle, that single No. 1 album, best-selling book or syndicated television program can be enough to carry their career, and them, for a lifetime."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A very difficult, unlikely or lucky achievement or period of success."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A very difficult, unlikely or lucky achievement or period of success."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"glosses": [
"Ephemeral state or atmosphere, as at a startup company or artistic group."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Ephemeral state or atmosphere, as at a startup company or artistic group."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lightning, bottle."
],
"links": [
[
"lightning",
"lightning#English"
],
[
"bottle",
"bottle#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-lightning in a bottle.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/45/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/En-au-lightning_in_a_bottle.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "great, fleeting success",
"word": "one-hit wonder"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Leo Durocher",
"Leyden jar",
"Michael Quinion",
"kite experiment"
],
"word": "lightning in a bottle"
}
Download raw JSONL data for lightning in a bottle meaning in All languages combined (3.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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