wet-blanket

wet blanket

noun
1.
a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire.
2.
a person or thing that dampens enthusiasm or enjoyment: Nobody asked him to join the group because he's such a wet blanket.

Origin:
1655–65

Dictionary.com Unabridged

wet-blan·ket

[wet-blang-kit]
verb (used with object)
1.
to extinguish (a fire) with a wet blanket.
2.
to dampen the enthusiasm or enjoyment of (a person, group, etc.).

Origin:
1865–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Wet-blanket is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
chat, to converse
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
wet blanket
 
n
informal a person whose low spirits or lack of enthusiasm have a depressing effect on others

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

wet blanket definition


Someone who dampens enthusiasm: “We were all having a good time until Harold walked in and started acting like a wet blanket.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

wet blanket definition


  1. 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?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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