strike twice

English

Etymology

Alluding to the proverb lightning never strikes twice in the same place.

Verb

strike twice (third-person singular simple present strikes twice, present participle striking twice, simple past and past participle struck twice)

1. (chiefly of lightning, but figuratively meaning other things) To impact the same location, person, etc. again.
   • 2004, Lynn Abbey, Thieves' World: Enemies of Fortune, page 276:

     "Has fortune struck twice in one week? I send you out after cheese and you bring home an entire cow?”

   • 2008 February 9, Dennis O'Neil, Leah Wilson, Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City, BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 3:

     Finger and Kane presented the editor with the Bat-Man, who made his debut in Detective Comics #27, dated May 1939, and . . . lightning struck twice. Another hit! Another Superman? Well, no. Oh, there were, and are, similarities: the double identity, the cape and tights, the devotion to crime-fighting.

   • 2012, Sylvia Day, Bared to You, dedication:

     And to Alistair and Jessica, from Seven Years to Sin, who inspired me to write Gideon and Eva's story. I'm so glad the inspiration struck twice!

   • 2014 October 7, James G. Bilder, Artillery Scout: The Story of a Forward Observer with the U.S. Field Artillery in World War I, Casemate, →ISBN:

     Lenny threw himself into a shell hole hoping that lightning wouldn't strike twice. The bombs hit horses, caisson , and even the chow line by the rolling kitchen that Len would have been standing in if he hadn't been writing a letter to Maggie instead. It was as if it were raining flesh and entrails.

   • 2022 October 19, Merrillee Whren, Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies, Merrillee Whren, →ISBN:

     He wished he could have a clear answer. With Ciara he had known immediately that she was the one for him. Had he expected lightning to strike twice in his life? Chapter Ten Charlie greeted Lesley with an exuberant bark and.