be a howling success

be a howling success

To be extremely or triumphantly successful. For having such a limited budget, their play turned out to be a howling success. My business was a howling success in the 1980s and '90s, but the advent of the Internet rendered my services obsolete. I'm worried we're going to lose funding if our research project isn't a howling success.

See also: howling, success

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

howling success

A tremendous triumph, as in Their first play was a howling success. This colloquial expression employs howling in the sense of "very pronounced" or "glaring," a usage dating from the mid-1800s.

See also: howling, success

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.