a wet blanket

Related to a wet blanket: same old same old, a white elephant, along the lines, worse for wear, To Say the Least

wet blanket

Someone who ruins other people's fun. Don't invite Nicole to the party. She's such a wet blanket that she'll probably just complain the whole time. David was tired of being called a wet blanket by his friends just because he doesn't drink alcohol.
See also: blanket, wet
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a wet blanket

INFORMAL
If you call someone a wet blanket, you mean that they stop other people from enjoying themselves by being boring or miserable. `Hey', said Thack, looking at Michael. `Stop being such a wet blanket.' I'm sorry if I've been a wet blanket today.
See also: blanket, wet
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a wet blanket

someone who has a depressing or discouraging effect on others.
A dampened blanket can be used to smother a fire; the image here is of a person extinguishing a lively or optimistic mood by their gloominess or negativity.
1991 Michael Curtin The Plastic Tomato Cutter When in the company of those of us who do succumb to the occasional dram Father Willie was never a wet blanket.
See also: blanket, wet
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

a ˌwet ˈblanket

(informal, disapproving) a person who is not enthusiastic about anything and who stops other people from enjoying themselves: She was such a wet blanket at the party that they never invited her again. OPPOSITE: a live wire
A wet blanket can be used to help put out a fire.
See also: blanket, wet
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

wet blanket, a

A person or thing that spoils the fun. This term, alluding to a device used to smother a fire, has been around since the early nineteenth century. Mrs. Anne Mathews used it in Tea-Table Talk (1857): “Such people may be the wet blankets of society.”
See also: wet
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • come from
  • come from (someone or something)
  • be a box of birds
  • barracuda
  • eat out of someone's hand, to
  • be well turned out
  • direct
  • direct (one's) attention to (someone or something)
  • direct attention to
  • be quick on the uptake
References in periodicals archive
This firm's silica fiber blanket Type SI Moldable is a wet blanket that combines high-purity amorphous silica fibers with an inorganic silica binder.
Silica fiber blanket
Zircar Refractory Composites has introduced the Silica Fiber Blanket-Type SI Moldable, a wet blanket that is a combination of high-purity amorphous silica fibers with an inorganic silica binder.
Silica Fiber Blanket Products
To test a chimney for leaks, build a paper or straw fire in the furnace or stove, and when the smoke is coming thick, drop a wet blanket on top of the chimney.
Handy To Know
Some meteorologists, scientists who study weather, think the overheated Pacific Ocean current might be a wet blanket at the Olympics.
Not El Nino!!!
The family, of course, only too often throws a wet blanket on the fire of sexuality, but in the triptych of photographs that comprise the centerpiece of Harris' exhibit, the two implode into one another in a seeming literalization of brotherly love.
Lyle Ashton Harris