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Nine Daysʹ Wonder (A)

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Something that causes a great sensation for a few days, and then passes into the limbo of things forgotten. In Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs we have “A wonder lasts nine days, and then the puppy’s eyes are open,” alluding to cats and dogs, which are born blind. As much as to say, the eyes of the public are blind in astonishment for nine days, but then their eyes are open, and they see too much to wonder any longer.

King: Youʹd think it strange if I should marry her.

Gloster: That would be ten daysʹ wonder, at the least.

King: That’s a day longer than a wonder lasts.”


Shakespeare: 3 Henry VI., iii. 2.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Nimble as Ninepence
Nimbus
Nimini Pimini
Nimrod
Nincompoop
Nine
Nine
Nine
Nine Crosses
Nine Crowns
Nine Days Wonder (A)
Nine Gods (The)
Nine Points of the Law
Nine Spheres (The)
Nine Worthies
Ninepence
Ninian (St.)
Ninon de lEnclos
Ninus
Niobe
Niord