STORM (or TEMPEST) IN A TEACUP (or TEAPOT), subs. phr. (common).—Much ado about nothing: cf. ‘a tide and flood though it be but in a basin of water’ (BENTLEY, Phalaris, 1699, 399).
1885. Daily Telegraph, 30 Sept. The ‘échauffourée’ in ‘Southern Bulgaria’ will prove a mere STORM IN A TEACUP.
