lightning in a bottle

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Something rare and special that is difficult to repeat or capture

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Điều gì đó hiếm và đặc biệt, khó lặp lại hoặc nắm bắt

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: electricity contained in a glass container
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The band's debut album was lightning in a bottle, a unique sound that they couldn't recreate

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “lightning in a bottle” mean?

Something rare and special that is difficult to repeat or capture Literally: electricity contained in a glass container

Is “lightning in a bottle” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.