Contextualizebeta

lightning in a bottle

noun

Etymology

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. Later 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.

Definitions

  1. That which one seeks in attempting a difficult or challenging feat.

    • Their fate remained in doubt until the very last game of the season. This truly was a team that captured lightning in a bottle.

  2. A very difficult, unlikely or lucky achievement or period of success.

  3. Ephemeral state or atmosphere, as at a startup company or artistic group.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

      Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lightning, bottle.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for lightning in a bottle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA