wet blanket

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.

wet blanket

Fig. a dull or depressing person who spoils other people's enjoyment. Jack's fun at parties, but his brother's a wet blanket. I was with Anne and she was being a real wet blanket.
See also: blanket, wet
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

wet blanket

A person who discourages enjoyment or enthusiasm, as in Don't be such a wet blanket-the carnival will be fun! This expression alludes to smothering a fire with a wet blanket. [Early 1800s]
See also: blanket, wet
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

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

n. someone who ruins a good time. (In the way that a wet blanket is used to put out a fire.) Oh, Martin! Why do you have to be such a wet blanket?
See also: blanket, wet
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

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

wet blanket

A spreader of gloom. What could put more of a damper on lovely summer day picnic than a wet ground cloth—unless it's a person who, by word or deed, spoils everyone's fun? Such a spoilsport at any otherwise enjoyable event goes by the epithet “wet blanket,” better known to recent generations as a party pooper.
See also: blanket, wet
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • a wet blanket
  • 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
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
It grieves me to be a wet blanket but the whole rationale for an amplifier like the Outlaw 750 is that one wants more than ample power to drive one's speakers and then resists the temptation to use it at full power.
Outlaw Audio 750 Amplifier
If Janet Reno acts more as a focusing agent than a wet blanket, she may be able to stabilize any erraticness in Bill Gates's behavior.
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
[Nixon] was all over Latin America like a wet blanket."
History, deleted
Some meteorologists, scientists who study weather, think the overheated Pacific Ocean current might be a wet blanket at the Olympics.
Not El Nino!!!
Like many architecture scholars who attempt cultural criticism, Ellin ultimately comes across as a hermeneutical wet blanket; her diagnosis of contemporary media culture dismisses everything from Nick at Nite to distressed denim as escapist nostalgic fantasy that contributes to "the virtual eclipse of the public realm."
Architecture of Fear
"We will make every effort to improve inter-Korean relations in future, too, but never sit idle with regard to sinister act of throwing a wet blanket over our efforts."
North Korea warns against U.S.-South Korea military drills after Olympics
"This is dangerous act of throwing a wet blanket over the current positive atmosphere of inter-Korean relations," envoy stressed.
North Korea: US Brings Strategic Assets 'Under Pretext of Olympics' in South Korea
"There will be no one that will want my victory at Belfast, and I will throw that wet blanket and just quietly come home with my money."
Korean ace predicts a Ding Dong
Zulueta's "In tears aboard plane: Touched by papal charism," (Front Page, 1/15/15) which began with "a wet blanket rule on embargo on Philippine journalists eager to score a scoop on the papal plane," but blithely closed with, "The Pope's charm had become a charism.
Captivating coverage of Pope's visit - By chance and for more than five days in a row now, since
Peter Wedd plays Don Jose with vigour rapidly transforming from the bland wet blanket to hysterical teenager that the character sadly is, doomed by his own psychological immaturity.
Cranking up revival with passion; REVIEW: Carmen - Welsh National Opera
Shaw, 69, added: "I don't want to be a wet blanket on her sense of courage but I've been flying for 22 years and a plane is like a musical instrument.
Carol's fly plan is pie in the sky
Call us a wet blanket, but we don't like Black Friday.
Awake by lunchtime
Derek Turner by email AI LOVE your enthusiasm, Derek, and I don't want to be a wet blanket but you will need advice and approval from a structural engineer and your local council to undertake this work.
diydonny