| A nine days' wonder-short-term sensation, a subject of short-term use.
This phraseological expression comes from the adage "A wonder lasts but nine days, and then the puppy's eyes are open."
e. g. The pleasant scandal which arose next day, The nine days’ wonder, which was brought to light(G. Byron).
At the eleventh hour - at the last minute, at the last moment.
e. g. War, which seemed certain, was prevented at the eleventh hour (Longman Dictionary).
Baker's dozen - thirteen.
This idiomatic expression arose in connection with the custom of bakers in the sale of their goods traders of bread to add every dozen loaves of thirteen and free, in order to avoid punishment, if you find less weight of bread.
e. g. Baker’s Dozen. Thirteen Stories by Modern British and American Writers (Moscow, 1979).
Forty winks - short sleep; to have a nap, take a nap.
In this idiomatic expression, the noun wink appears in its original meaning, preserved in modern English in the expressions not to sleep a wink of sleep, which means "and the eye does not close".
e. g. I can sleep anywhere, but I shouldn’t sleep a wink if I thought that such a great artist was obliged to spend the night in a stuffy carriage with three other people ( S. Maugham).
“If you’ll take my advice you’ll get a needle and cotton and start right in to mend the mosquito net,” she said, “or you’ll not be able to get a wink of sleep to-night” (I bid).
It should be noted that in English the numeral forty can act not only in its specific meaning (“forty”), but also express an indefinite number (usually a large number).
e. g. On fairy ground I could beat forties of them (W. Shakespeare).
However, in the idiomatic expression of forty winks, the numerical forty, expressing an undefined number, stands for "just a few".
e. g. When this was over, Mrs. Carey went to her room to rest, and Mr. Carey lay down on the sofa in the drawing-room for forty winks (S. Maugham).
| 