Idiom – Wet Blanket

Wet Blanket – Idiom of the Day

Meaning:

A person who ruins other people’s fun by disapproving of what they’re doing, or refusing to join in.

Origin:

The expression dates from around the 1870s and is based on the fact that cooks of that era kept a wet blanket in the kitchen to smother fires quickly. Cooks have been doing this since the mid-1600s. You can very clearly see the parallel between extinguishing a fire and extinguishing someone’s joy.

Usage:

1. Come on, jump in the pool! Don’t be such a wet blanket.
2. Janice is the biggest wet blanket ever. It’s why nobody invites her to their parties anymore.
3. I hate to sound like a wet blanket, but I have a high fever. I can’t make it to your party. 
4. Man, we were just joking around! Why do you have to be such a wet blanket? 
5. The new curfew regulations are a damn wet blanket for the partygoers of the city.
6. Hey sorry for being a wet blanket at your pool party last night, I just wasn’t in a good mood.
7. I hate to be the wet blanket here, but we have to be inside campus by 10:30 p.m, or they will most likely fine us.
8. I sometimes have to be the wet blanket and restrain my friends, else they will do something that they will regret.