rise like a rocket

rise like a rocket (and fall like a stick)

To experience a meteoric rise in success (and then have one's fortunes reversed just as suddenly and dramatically). The phrase can be used to describe someone or something who has only experienced a period of success so far, not necessarily one followed by a downturn. Everyone has their eyes on the young actress who has been rising like a rocket in the film industry. The company rose like a rocket by trading sub-prime mortgages, and then fell like a stick when the housing bubble burst.

See also: fall, like, rise, rocket

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

rise like a rocket (and fall like a stick)

rise suddenly and dramatically (and subsequently fall in a similar manner).

The origin of this phrase is a jibe made by Thomas Paine about Edmund Burke's oratory in a 1792 House of Commons debate on the subject of the French Revolution. Paine remarked: ‘As he rose like a rocket, he fell like the stick’.

See also: like, rise, rocket

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