FLASH IN THE PAN
1. a project, person etc that enjoys only short lived success.
2. something which disappoints by failing to deliver anything of value, despite a showy beginning
origin
this originally had a literal meaning, i.e. a real flash in a real pan. muskets used to have small pans to hold the gunpowder charge. an attempt to fire the musket in which the gunpowder flared up without firing a bullet would be called a ‘flash in the pan’.
origin, the term is known since the late 17th century. elkanah settle, in reflections on several of mr. dryden’s plays 1687, had this to say:
“although the group had a number one hit, it was only a one hit wonder making them a flash in the pan.”
“if cannons were so well bred in his metaphor as only to flash in the pan, i dare lay an even wager that mr. dryden durst venture to sea.”
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