Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
storm in a tea-kettle en · NOUN
Meanings
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(alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of storm in a teacup: synonym of tempest in a teapot.
Altogether this was rather a storm in a tea-kettle.
1908, The Parliamentary Debates http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=0_oscfAuszTjbTCyXy&id=YDHi45tsCFAC&q=%22storm+in+a+tea+kettle%22&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3D%2522storm%2Bin%2Ba%2Btea%2Bkettle%2522&pgis=11999, Izaak Mansk, Emil Brut http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1896209416&id=KF_45aPRyQ4C&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&sig=HVzByFa3hH5dfoFA3Tvl_IAFTds
So, I feel sure, and Mr. Willoughby also, that what we have now is a “storm in a tea-kettle”, so he called it today on the telephone to me, and he is the specialist, the famous nephrologist, who knows intimately Mr. Hartman’s case.
1887, Henry Theophilus Finck, Romantic Love and Personal Beauty http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=OCLC05256148&id=iUX9lud1mrwC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&sig=Hz9EJd0U5Z51aRkXejYI8HqTITw
But this momentary ebullition of feeling is but a storm in a tea-kettle compared to the ferocity of a jealous lover seeking to devour his rival.
The Pisces ability to shrug complacently when things go wrong, refuse to make mountains out of molehills, stir up a storm in a teakettle, or cut down a beanstalk for no reason...leaving poor Jack to fall to the ground with a thud...is such a lovely thing.
1992, Linda Goodman, Linda Goodman's Love Signs http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0060968966&id=1ZaiCWVol4UC&pg=PA868&lpg=PA868&sig=YF-bibMM4zIDRZM-kOfKQLRrWQ8