Nine-day wonder

Origin of: Nine-day wonder

Nine-day wonder

A nine-day wonder is a person or event that starts promisingly and excitingly but wanes to mediocrity after a short time. Why ‘nine’ days, nobody knows for sure but presumably after nine days anything or anyone can become old news. The expression is very old and dates from at least the 1300s and may have connection to the mysticism that traditionally surrounds the number nine. See cloud nine for more on this.