2008-2009

AP English - Allusions
Know these allusions! Incorporate these into your
analytical writing.
MYTHOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS
1. Achilles’ heel – is a person’s only weak or vulnerable
point (Achilles was one of the greatest Greek heroes of the
Trojan War, son of mortal Peleus and sea-nymph Thetis.
During his infancy, his mother dipped him in the waters of
the river Styx, thus making his body invulnerable except
for the heel by which she held him. This vulnerable spot
would later prove fatal.)
During the Trojan War, Achilles quarreled with his
commander Agamemnon because of Agamemnon’s slight
in taking from him his war-prize, the concubine Briseis.
Achilles refused to fight any longer. After the death of his
beloved friend Patroclus at the hands of the Trojan hero
Hector, Achilles emerged, filled with grief and rage. He
killed Hector and dragged his body behind the wheels of
his chariot round the walls of Troy. Achilles was wounded
in the heel by a poisoned arrow shot by Paris, Hector’s
brother, and died of this wound. The Iliad opens with
“Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that
accursed anger which brought uncounted anguish on the
Achaians.”
USAGE EX. (1) “There was every temporal reason for
leaving: it
would be entering again into a world which he had
only quitted in
 a passion for isolation, induced by a fit of Achillean
moodiness
after an imagined slight.” Thomas Hardy The
Woodlanders 1887
2. Adonis – in Greek mythology was a beautiful youth
who was loved by both Aphrodite and Persephone. He was
killed by a wild boar, but Aphrodite begged Zeus to restore
him to life. Zeus decreed that Adonis should spend the
winter months of each year in the underworld with
Persephone and the summer months with Aphrodite. A
man described an as Adonis usually has a handsome face
and gorgeous body.
USAGE EX. (1) “I really can’t see any resemblance
between you, with your rugged strong face and your
coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if
he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves.” Oscar
Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray 1891
3. Aeolian – according to Greek mythology, Aeolus was a
mortal who lived on the floating island of Aeolia. He was a
friend of the gods, and Zeus gave him control of the
winds. He was later regarded as the god of the winds. He
has given his name to the Aeolian harp that produces
sounds when the wind passes through it. Aeolian music is
thus music produced by the effect of the wind.
USAGE EX. (1) “Time to drink in life’s sunshine—
time to listen to the Aeolian
music that the wind of God draws from the human
heart-strings around us. “
Jerome K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat 1889
4. Apollo – in Greek mythology was the son of Zeus and
Leto and the twin brother of Artemis. He was born on the
island of Delos, the site of his most important cult festival.
The other main shrine for the worship of Apollo was the
oracle at Delphi where as a boy he had traveled and killed a
huge snake called Python and taken control of the oracle
there. He came to be associated with the sun and
sometimes given the epithet Phoebus, the Bright One.
Apollo later usurped Helios’ place as the god of the sun
who drove the sun’s chariot across the sky each day. Music
– his instrument was a seven-stringed lyre. Medicine -
father of Aesculapius, god of medicine and healing - poetic
inspiration, archery, prophecy, and pastoral life (he
protected herdsmen). Apollo, representing order, reason,
and self-discipline, is often contrasted with Dionysus,
representing creativity, sensuality and lack of inhibition. In
art, Apollo is represented as an ideal type of male beauty,
for example in the famous statue the Apollo Belvedere,
now in the Vatican. Apollo had numerous affairs with
nymphs, mortal women, and young men. Among his
unsuccessful encounters were those with Daphne and
Cassandra.
USAGE EX. (1) “Your words have delineated very
pretty a graceful Apollo;
he is present to your imagination, tall, fair, blue-eyed,
and with a Grecian
profile.” Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre 1847
(2) “He had only a nodding acquaintance with the
Hippocratic oath, but was
somehow aware that he was committed to Apollo the
Healer to look upon his
teacher in the art of medicine as one of his parents.”
John Mortimer
Paradise Postponed 1985
5. Argus-eyed – Greek mythology, Argus was a giant with
100 eyes, whom Hera made guardian of Io (transformed
into a heifer by Zeus). Argus never slept with more than
one pair of eyes at a time; she was able to watch Io
constantly. After Hermes had killed Argus on behalf of
Zeus, Hera took the eyes to deck the peacock’s tail. The
term “argus-eyed” has come to mean vigilant or
observant.
6. Athena/Minerva – also called Pallas Athene was the
Greek goddess of wisdom, of war, and of handicrafts,
especially spinning and weaving. She corresponds to the
Roman goddess Minerva. Athene is said to have sprung
fully grown and fully armed from the brain of her father,
Zeus. She is usually represented in sculpture and paintings
in armor. The owl was associated with her. (patron goddess
of Athens, personifies wisdo m)
USAGE EX. “It meant the sudden calling into
existence, like Pallas Athene
from the head of Zeus, of brand-new complex organs
at a single stroke
of the genetic wand.” Richard Dawkins The Blind
Watchmaker 1986
7. Atlantean – a legendary island, beautiful and
prosperous, which was overwhelmed by the sea – Atlantis
was a legendary island continent in the ocean west of the
Pillars of Hercules. According to Plato, Atlantis was
beautiful and prosperous and ruled part of Europe and
Africa, but following volcanic eruptions, it was swallowed
by the sea.
USAGE EX. “Under the clouds out there it’s as still,
and lost, as Atlantis.”
Thomas Pynchon Gravity’s Rainbow 1973
8. Aurora – goddess of the dawn (Roman mythology -
Greek is Eos)
9. Bacchus – is another name for the Greek god Dionysus,
the son of Zeus and Semele. Originally, a god of the
fertility of nature, associated with wild and ecstatic
religious rites, in later traditions he is a god of wine who
loosens inhibitions and inspires creativity in music and
poetry. Bacchanalia was the name given to the annual
feast and celebrations in honor of the Greek god Dionysus
(Bacchus). The celebrations were characterized by wild
orgies and drunkenness. The adjective Bacchanalian can
refer to drunkenness or to wild or drunken partying.
USAGE EX. “Jagger runs and cycles; Aerosmith
singer Steve Tylor has banned
sugar, salt, wheat, yeast, fat, red meat and alcohol
from his band’s menus. Even
the Grateful Dead, while publicly burning the
Bacchanalian flame at both ends,
were secretly calorie watching.” The Independent
1997
‘/:’?”?:0-0=000
10. Bacchanalian – see above
11. Calliope – was one of the nine Muses in Greek
mythology, associated with epic poetry – generally held to
be the chief of the 9 Muses. She was the mother of
Orpheus, by either Apollo or King Oeagrus.
12. Cassandra – in Greek mythology was a daughter of
Priam, King of Troy. Apollo loved her and gave her the gift
of prophecy. When she resisted his advances, he turned the
gift into a curse by ensuring that, although her prophecies
were true, they would not be believed. Cassandra foretold
the fall of Troy and the death of Agamemnon, fulfilled
when his wife, Clytemnestra, murdered him. The name
Cassandra can be used to describe anyone whose
warnings go unheeded – one who is a prophet of doom.
13. Centaur – in Greek mythology is one of a race of
creatures who has the upper body, arms, and head of a
man and the body and legs of a horse
USAGE EX. “ Turning half-beast and half-divine…
like a heathen
Centaur, he had escaped his death once more.” Eudora
Welty “A Still Moment”
14. Chimera – in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing
female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a
serpent’s tail – any mythical animal formed from parts
of various animals – a thing which is hoped for but is
illusory or impossible to achieve
(adjective = chimerical)
15. Cupidity – in Roman mythology Cupid was the god of
love, corresponding to the Greek god Eros. He is the son of
Venus and Mercury. He is often pictured as a beautiful
naked boy with wings, carrying a bow and arrows, with
which he wounds his victims and makes them fall in love.
Cupid fell in love with the beautiful Psyche – visiting her
only at night and insisting that she not see what he looked
like. When Psyche succumbed to curiosity and lit a lamp
while he slept, a few drops of hot oil fell on him and woke
him. He left her, and she wandered across the earth looking
for him and accomplishing various tasks set for her by
Venus. Eventually Psyche was reunited with Cupid and
married him in heaven. He is known today as the
cherubic but mischievous little boy. Cupidity = excessive
desire, esp. for wealth; avarice (from cusire, Cupid
derives from cupere, to desire)
16. Erotic – Eros was god of love (Greek) see above –
deals with sexual love and desire tending to arouse sexual
desire; dominated by sexual love or desire
17. Furor – goddess of rage or fury
18. Gorgon – in Greek mythology they were 3 sisters,
Stheno, Euryale and Medusa (the only mortal one) who had
snakes for hair and the power to turn anyone who looked
at them to stone. A gorgon is a frightening or repulsive
woman. Medusa was killed by Perseus.
19. Halcyon – a mythical bird said by ancient writers to
breed in a nest floating at sea at the winder solstice,
charming the wind and waves into calm – also denoting a
period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and
peaceful (halcyon days) – a kingfisher (bird) with brightly
colored plumage, who laid its eggs and incubated them on
the surface of the seas for fourteen days before the winter
solstice, and the sea was calm
=]]]]]]=
20. Harpy – in Greek and Roman mythology, harpies
(from Greek word meaning snatchers) were fierce monsters
with the heads and bodies of women and wings and claws
of vultures. Harpies seem to have combined the primitive
concepts of wind spirits and predatory ghosts with actual
characteristics of carrion birds. Now it means a cruel or
grasping, unscrupulous woman.
21. Hector – in Greek mythology eldest son of Priam and
Hecuba, the leading Trojan hero in the Trojan War. Killed
in single combat by Achilles in revenge for death of
Patroclus, Achilles dragged his body behind the wheels of
his chariot 3 times around the walls of Troy.
22. Helen of Troy – in Greek mythology the daughter of
Zeus and Leda who grew into the most beautiful woman
in the world. She married Menelaus, and her abduction by
the Trojan prince Paris led to the Trojan War. Doctor
Faustus, in Marlowe’s play, calls up the spirit of Helen of
Troy: “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships /
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”
23. Herculean – in both Greek and Roman mythology,
Hercules (Heracles by the Greeks) was a hero of
superhuman strength and courage, usually depicted with
a lion-skin, club and bow. He was son of Zeus by
Alcemene, wife of Amphitryon. He performed 12 immense
tasks, or “labours,” imposed on him by Eurystheus, King of
Argos. After his death, he was granted immortality by the
gods. Any exceptionally strong or muscular man can be
described as a Hercules of Herculean. A Herculean task
is one that is formidably difficult.
24. Hydra-headed – In Greek mythology, the Hydra was a
many-headed snake of the marshes of Lerna – whose
heads grew again as they were cut off. As one of his 12
labours, Hercules slew the Hydra by searing each neck with
a burning torch as he cut off the head to prevent 2 more
heads growing to replace it. Something that seems to be
never-ending or indestructible because new parts keep
developing are alluded to as hydra-headed or as a
hydra.
25. Iridescent – showing luminous colors that seem to
change when seen from different angles – Iris = in Greek
mythology the goddess of the rainbow, who acted as a
messenger for the gods when they intended discord, and
the rainbow is the bridge or road let down from heaven for
her accommodation. When the gods meant peace, they sent
Hermes.
26. Jovial – Jove is another name for Jupiter, the Roman
name for the supreme deity. Jovial means one with
markedly good humor.
27. Junoesque – in Roman mythology Juno was the wife
and sister of Jupiter and queen of heaven, equivalent to the
Greek Hera. She was enraged at the philanderings of her
husband Jupiter. She was the protectress of marriage and
women. Junoesque means marked by stately beauty,
imposingly tall and stately.
28. Lethargy – named from the Lethe River in Greek
mythology (one of the rivers in Hades), whose water
caused those who drank it to lose all memory of their past
life on earth. The souls of the dead were required to taste
its water that they might forget everything said and done
when alive. Lethe represents oblivion or forgetfulness,
and occasionally death. Lethargy can mean a lack of
energy or enthusiasm.
mmm.
29. Martial – Mars, in Roman mythology, was the god of
war (second in importance only to Jupiter and for whom
the month of March is named. Martial means related to
fighting or war.
30. Medea – in Greek mythology she was a sorceress who
fell in love with Jason and helped him to obtain the golden
fleece. When Jason later wed the daughter of Creon, King
of Corinth, she was so enraged that she murdered their
(Jason and hers) two children as well as Jason’s young
bride. He was wed to Medea first.
31. Mentor – an old man in the Odyssey who watched
over Telemachus when Odysseus went to war. His name is
synonymous with a wise and faithful counselor – an
experienced and trusted adviser.
32. Mercurial – in Roman mythology Mercury was the
messenger of the gods (Hermes in Greek) and is pictured
as a herald wearing winged sandals which enable him to
travel very swiftly. He was the god of science, commerce,
patron of travelers and of rogues, and thieves. Hence, his
name denotes both a messenger and a thief. Mercurial
means to be quick and changeable in character, having
the traits of Mercury.
33. Mercury/Hermes – hermetically sealed means
airtight, and Hermetic also relates to alchemy (god of
science) – mercury, the element, goes up and down to
measure atmospheric temperature or pressure – a mercurial
person tends to go up and down in emotions (like Catherine
in Wuthering Heights (“I love Heathcliff, I don’t” which
got her into a heap of trouble).
34. Mnemonics – Mnemosyne was the mother of the 9
Muses and goddess of memory in Greek mythology.
Mnemonic aids are used to remember things, like
HOMES to recall the names of the Great Lakes: Huron,
Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
35. Morphine – Morpheus was the Roman god of dreams,
son of Somnus, the god of sleep. Morphine is a narcotic
drug obtained from opium and used to relieve pain.
36. Muse – in Greek mythology, the 9 Muses were
daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory.
Today, a muse means a woman or a force personified as a
woman who is the source of inspiration for a creative
artist.
Nine Muses:
--Calliope (epic poetry)
?”
—:”
“?Clio (history)
--Erato (lyre and lyric love poetry)
--Euterpe (flute playing and lyric poetry)
--Melpomene (tragedy)
--Polyhymnia (songs to the gods)
--Terpsichore (dancing and singing that accompanies
it)
--Thalia (comedy and bucolic poetry)
--Urania (astronomy)
37. Narcissism – in Greek mythology, Narcissus was a
youth of extraordinary beauty who cruelly spurned many
admirers, including the nymph Echo. He fell in love with
his own reflection in a pool of water. Echo caused this.
Narcissus pined away and died, longing for his own image,
and was turned into the white flower named after him.
Narcissism describes a neurotic obsession with one’s
own person, the epitome of excessive vanity.
38. Nemesis – in Greek mythology, she was the goddess
responsible for retribution, either for a person who had
transgressed the moral code or for a person who had taken
too much pride in his/her success or luck (hubris). Nemesis
is used to refer to a person’s doom or terrible but
unavoidable fate, or as a personification of punishment or
retribution for wrongdoing or excessive pride. (EX.
English AP is her nemesis. When a sports team just can’t
seem to defeat a certain opponent, one could call that
opponent the team’s nemesis.)
39. Neptune – in Roman mythology (Poseidon in Greek)
was god of the sea. He is represented as an elderly man of
stately bearing, bearded, carrying a trident and sometimes
riding a dolphin or horse.,
40. Niobe – in Greek mythology was the daughter of
Tantalus and mother of numerous offspring. She boasted
about her large family, which angered the goddess Leto
who only had Apollo and Artemis. Apollo slew all Niobe’s
sons, and Artemis her daughters. Niobe was turned into a
stone and her tears into streams that eternally trickled from
it. She is a symbol of inconsolable grief.
Hamlet: “Like Niobe, all tears.” Hamlet says of his
mother at his father’s funeral.
41. Odyssey – In Greek mythology, Odysseus was the son
of Laertes, King of Ithaca and central figure in the Odyssey.
(In Roman, known as Ulysses). Homer’s epic poem
recounts the ten-year voyage of Odysseus during his years
of wandering after the fall of Troy. Any long series of
wanderings or long, adventurous journey can be
described as an odyssey.
42. Olympian – Mount Olympus in Greece is held to be
the home of the Greek gods. Olympian refers to anyone or
anything that is superior to or more important than lesser
mortals.
43. Paean – from Greek mythology, the healer of the gods
– name later applied to Apollo, acquired the meaning of a
song, hymn or chant to Apollo, of a triumphant nature = a
triumphal song in general. Invoked by the name Paian,
originally the Homeric name for the physician of the gods.
– a creative work expressing enthusiastic praise – He
created a filmic paean to his hero.
44. Pandora’s Box – in Greek mythology Pandora, the
first mortal woman was given by the gods a jar (or box)
that she was forbidden to open. Out of curiosity she
disobeyed and released from it all the evils and illnesses
that have afflicted mankind ever since, with only Hope
remaining at the bottom. The term is used for a source of
many unforeseen and unmanageable problems. Also, a
process that once begun generates many complicated
problems. (These laws opened a Pandora’s Box for
taxpayers.)
45. Parnassus – in Greek mythology was a mountain a
few miles north of Delphi associated with Apollo and the
Muses. On its slopes was the Castalian spring whose
waters were believed to give inspiration to those who drank
of them. Parnassus is regarded as the seat of poetry and
music. Parnassian pertains to poetry.
46. Pegasus – in Greek mythology is the winged horse
which sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa when
Perseus cut off her head. Pegasus was ridden by Perseus in
his rescue of Andromeda and by Bellerophon when he
fought the Chimera. The name Pegasus can represent a
means of escape.
47. Phoenix – a mythical bird of gorgeous plumage, the
only one of its kind. After living for 5 or 6 centuries in the
Arabian desert, it burnt itself on a funeral pyre ignited by
the sun and fanned by its own wings and rose from the
ashes with renewed youth to live through another lifespan.
Anything that has been restored to a new existence after
apparent destruction can be said to be like the Phoenix. It
symbolizes resurrection or a person or thing regarded as
uniquely remarkable in some respect.
48. Plutocracy – In Greek mythology Plutus was god of
wealth and was represented as blind because he distributed
riches indiscriminately, as lame because riches come slowly
and with wings because riches disappear more quickly than
they come. Plutocrat is one who exercises influence or
possesses power through his wealth. Plutocr;acy is
government by the wealthy.
49. Promethean – In Greek mythology Prometheus was a
Titan, brother of Atlas, seen in many legends as the
champion of humankind against the gods. In some stories,
he actually made the first men by making figures of clay
with which the help of Athene brought to life. Prometheus
stole fire from Mt. Olympus and gave to men, angering the
gods, and also taught them arts and sciences. As a
punishment for his disobedience to the gods, Zeus had
Prometheus chained to a rock, where each day an eagle tore
out his liver, which grew again each night. Hercules
rescued him. Prometheus is the archetype of the
courageous rebel who dares to challenge the power of
the gods and of fate. The Promethean spark of fire is the
spark of life or vitality. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is
titled Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus because Dr.
Frankenstein tried to create man. The result upsets the
universe, literally, with the final product – the creature.
50. Protean – In Greek mythology the son of Oceanus and
Tethys, was given by Poseidon the power to prophesy the
future. He has power to change his shape, which he
would exploit in order to escape those seeking his
predictions. He is sometimes depicted as emerging from
the sea, almost like a male Venus, and resting on the
seashore. Protean refers to changeability, tending or able
to change frequently or easily; able to do many different
things, versatile (protean thinkers who scan the horizons
of work and society).
51. Psyche – The heroine of the myth of Cupid and
Psyche. She was a beautiful maiden who loved Cupid but
only saw him at night. (see Cupid). Psyche in Greek means
breath, life or soul. A personification of the soul as
female or sometimes as a butterfly - the allegory of
Psyche’s love for Cupid – the human soul, mind or spirit.
(EX. I will never really fathom the female psyche.)
52. Pygmalion – the king of Cyprus who fashioned an
ivory statue of a beautiful woman and loved it so deeply
that in answer to his prayer, Aphrodite gave it life. The
woman was named Galatea, and she bore him a daughter.
George Bernard Shaw wrote the play Pygmalion in 1913
where Professor Henry Higgins takes a Cockney flower girl
Eliza Doolittle and transforms her into an elegant lady.
Later, this became the musical My Fair Lady (1956).
53. Pyrrhic victory – Pyrrhus was king of Epirus (c. 307-
272). In defeating the Romans at Asculum in 279, he
sustained heavy losses, commenting, “Such another victory
and we are ruined.” Hence a pyrrhic victory is one gained
with terrible loss of life or at too great a cost.
54. Saturnalia – The ancient Roman festival of Saturn in
December, called the Saturnalia, was characterized by
general unrestrained merrymaking. The term is applied to a
scene of wild revelry or an orgy.
55. Saturnine – of a person or their features, dark in
coloring and moody or mysterious (his saturnine face and
dark, watchful eyes).
56. Sibyl – Sibyls were prophetesses in ancient Greece.
They gave their prophecies in an ecstatic state and their
utterances were often ambiguous and riddle-like. Sibyl
means a woman able to foretell the future.
57. Sisyphean – In Greek mythology Sisyphus was a king
of Corinth, punished in Hades for his misdeeds in life by
being condemned to the eternal task of rolling a huge
stone to the top of a hill. Each time he approached the
summit, the stone slipped and rolled down to the bottom
again. Sisyphean denotes a task that can never be
completed, a seemingly endless ordeal.
58. Stentorian – Stentor was a Greek herald in the Trojan
War, supposed to have the voice of 50 men combined. He
was unwise enough to challenge Hermes to a shouting
match and when he lost, paid the penalty for his
presumption by being put to death. Stentorian describes a
person with a powerful voice – James Earl Jones.
59. Stygian – In Greek mythology the river Styx was the
main river of Hades, the underworld, across which the
souls of the dead were said to be ferried by Charon.
Stygian refers to any deep, gloomy, or foggy darkness—
very dark.
60. Tantalize – in Greek mythology Tantalus was the king
of Phrygia who was punished for his misdeeds (including
killing his son Pelos and offering his cooked flesh to the
gods) by being condemned in Hades to stand up to his chin
in water which receded whenever he tried to drink it and
under branches of fruit which drew back when he tried to
reach them. Thus the word tantalize – torment or tease
(someone) with the sight or promise of something that is
unobtainable (also to excite the desires of someone – the
tantalizing fragrance of her perfume).
61. Terpsichorean – Terpsichore means delighting in
dance and was one of the 9 Muses in Greek mythology
associated with dancing, especially choral dancing and its
accompanying song. Terpsichorean relates to dancing.
62. Titanic – The Titans were the older gods of Greek
mythology who preceded the Olympians and were the
children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). They
rebelled against and overthrew Uranus and were in turn
defeated by their own children, the Olympians, led by Zeus.
A person of very great strength and size is a Titan. Titanic
= exceptional strength, size, or power.
63. Volcanoes – from the Roman god Vulcan – the god of
fire and metalworking (Greek god is Hephaestus) and,
though ugly, married to Venus, the most beautiful of the
goddesses. He is pictured at the forge, and he made Zeus’s
thunderbolts and Achilles’ armor. A volcano is a conical
mountain with a crater or bent through which lava, rock
and gas erupt.
64. Vulcanize – from Vulcan, the god of fire, means to
harden (rubber or rubber-like material) by treating it with
sulphur at a high temperature
65. Zeus – the supreme ruler of the Olympian gods in
Greek mythology (Jupiter in Roman), was the protector and
ruler of mankind, the dispenser of justice and the god of
weather, whose most famous weapon was the thunderbolt.
Although husband of Hera, he had many affairs with
goddesses, nymphs, and mortal women, often disguising
himself to accomplish seductions. He was the son of
Cronus (whom he dethroned) and Rhea.

ALLUSIONS FROM LITERATURE

1. Babbitt – George Babbitt was the protagonist of the
satirical novel Babbitt (1922) by Sinclair Lewis. Babbitt
means a materialistic, complacent, and conformist
businessman.
2. Brobdingnagian – Brobdingnag is the land inhabited by
giants in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). The word
describes anything that is gigantic in size or scale.
3. Bumble – Mr. Bumble is in Dickens’s Oliver Twist and
is a minor official in the workhouse where Oliver is
brought up. Bumble is a cruel, fussy man with mighty
ideas of his own importance. Bumbledom means officious
arrogance and conceit of the petty dignitary.
4. Cinderella – a girl in various traditional European fairy
tales. In one version she is exploited as a servant by her
family but enabled by a fairy godmother to attend a royal
ball where she meets Prince Charming. She has to flee at
midnight, leaving the prince to identify her by the glass
slipper she leaves behind. Cinderella means the following:
(1) a person or thing that is undeservedly neglected or
ignored, (2) used to describe a transformation from poverty
of plainness to prosperity or glamour, (3) refer to an
undervalued service that nobody will provide for, or(4) an
instruction that must be followed precisely (late-night
deadline).
5. Don Juan – was a legendary Spanish nobleman famous
for his seductions. The term means a man with a
reputation for seducing women.
6. Don Quixote – is the aging hero of a romance, Don
Quixote de la Mancha (1605-15) by Miguel de Cervantes.
He is devoted to tales of chivalry and romance, becoming
so obsessed with these stories that “the moisture of his
brain was exhausted to that degree, that at last he lost the
use of his reason.” Unable to distinguish fanciful from the
real, he determines to turn knight errant and sets out in
search of adventures. Tall, lean, and thin-faced, he dons
rusty armor and is accompanied by his scrawny old horse
Rosinante and a short, fat quire, Sancho Panza. In one
episode he attacks a group of windmills thinking they are
giants. He elevates a village girl and names her Dulcinea
as the ideal of womanly beauty and virtue. Don Quixote
allusions pick up on various attributes of his character: his
insanity, his idealism and his thinness. He is a foolish,
mistaken idealist or someone who naively believes that he
can set the world to rights single-handedly. The
character fights against illusory evils or fails to see things
as they really are. To tilt at windmills is to attack
imaginary or impossible targets. Quixotic means
extremely idealistic, unrealistic and impractical.
7. Falstaffian – Sir John Falstaff is the fat, witty, good-
humored old knight in Shakespeare’s Henry IV and The
Merry Wives of Windsor. Falstaffian means something that
resembles Falstaff, fat, jolly and debauched (a Falstaffian
gusto for life.)
8. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley’s novel (1818) relates the
exploits of Victor Frankenstein, a Genevan student who
builds a grotesque manlike creature out of corpses and
brings it to life. The creature is never named. The book
ends with the monster destroying Victor and then goes
away to end its own life. (EX. Does cloning entail
Frankensteinian methods?)
9. Friday – Man Friday is in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson
Crusoe (1719) and is the name given by Crusoe to the man
he meets on his island, on a Friday, after spending many
years there alone following a shipwreck. The two become
close friends and constant companions.
10. Galahad – In Arthurian legend, Sir Galahad was the
noblest knight of the Round Table, the son of Sir Lancelot
and Elaine. His immaculate purity and virtue predestine
him to succeed in the quest for the Holy Grail. His name is
a byword for chivalrous heroism, and the image of him
riding up on his charger to rescue a maiden in distress is a
common one. His name can also mean a person
characterized by nobility, integrity, or courtesy.
11. Jekyll and Hyde – In Robert Louis Stevenson’s The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), Dr. Jekyll
discovers a drug that allows him to have a separate
personality, Mr. Hyde, through which he can express the
evil side of his personality. Eventually, Hyde takes the
upper hand. The term “Jekyll and Hyde’ refers to someone
whose personality appears to undergo an abrupt
transformation, particularly from gentleness to
aggressiveness or violence. A person who reveals an
unsuspected evil side to his/her character can be said to
be changing into Mr. Hyde.
12. Lilliputian – In book one of Jonathan Swift’s
Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Gulliver finds himself
shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput. The tiny Lilliputians
are only 6 inches tall and are as small-minded as they are
small-bodied—petty, pretentious and factious.
Lilliputian means trivial or very small, traits of the
Lilliputians.
13. Little Lord Fauntleroy – From the name of the boy
hero of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel LLF (1886), it
means an excessively well-mannered or elaborately
dressed young boy.
14. Lothario – is a character from Nicholas Rowe’s play
The Fair Penitent (1703), “that haughty, gallant, gay
Lothario.” As with Casanova and Don Juan, Lothario is a
byword for libertinism (characterized by free indulgence
in sensual pleasures without regard to morals).
15. Malapropism – In Sheridan’s The Rivals (1775), Mrs.
Malaprop is known for her aptitude for misusing long
words, the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-
sounding one, often with an amusing effect (dance a
flamingo instead of flamenco).
16. Milquetoast - Caspar Milquetoast was a timid comic-
strip character created in 1924. A Milquetoast is any
submissive, meek, or timid person.
17. Panglossian – In Voltaire’s Candide (1759), Dr.
Pangloss is the tutor who imbues Candide with his guiding
philosophy that all is for the best in the best of all possible
worlds. No matter what misfortunes they each suffer on
their travels, Pangloss confidently and complacently
assures Candide that things could not be otherwise.
Panglossian describes a person who is optimistic
regardless of the circumstances.
18. Pickwickian – Samuel Pickwick is the central
character of Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers (1836-37). He
is jovial, generous, and unworldly in character and
short, plump and bespectacled in appearance.
19. Pollyanna – heroine of stories by American author
Eleanor H. Porter (1868-1920). Pollyanna is a perpetually
cheerful girl who teaches everyone she meets to play the
“just being glad” game – to find something about
everything to be glad about no matter what “twas.” The
name Pollyanna has come to stand for an unflagging (and
often excessively saccharine) cheerfulness, an ability to
find apparent cause for happiness in the most
unpromising situations (almost with a sense of apology
that may seem naïve to others).
20. Pooh-bah – is the Lord-High-Everything-Else
character in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado (1885). It
means a self-important person or a person holding many
offices at once.
22. Quixotic – See Don Quixote entry.
23. Scrooge – The miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is a character
in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), whose parsimony
and lack of charity are most apparent at Christmas. His
names denotes any mean or tight-fisted person.
24. Simon Legree – is the cruel cotton plantation owner in
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851-42) to
whom Tom is sold and who beats Tom to death. Legree’s
name is synonymous for a brutal taskmaster.
25. Svengali – is a musician in George Du Maurier’s novel
Trilby (1894) who trains Trilby’s voice and makes her a
famous singer. His control over her is so great that when
he dies, she loses her ability to sing. Svengali means
someone who establishes considerable or near-total
influence over someone else—a person who exercises a
controlling or mesmeric influence on another, especially
for a sinister purpose.
26. Tartuffe – the main character of Moliere’s play Le
Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur, first performed in 1664. He is a
religious hypocrite who uses the sly pretense of virtue and
religious devotion to win the admiration and friendship of
an honest but foolish man, Orgon. Tartuffe cleverly
persuades the wealthy Orgon to sign over all his property to
him, while behind Orgon’s back, he makes advances to his
wife and mocks his gullibility.
Tartuffe describes a religious hypocrite or a hypocritical
pretender to excellence of any kind.
27. Uncle Tom – is a loyal and ever-patient black slave,
the main character of Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle
Tom’s Cabin (1852). The term can be applied to a black
man whose behavior to white people is regarded as
submissively servile, and by extension can refer to
anyone regarded as betraying his or her cultural or
social allegiance.
28. Uriah Heep – is the shrewd, deceitful clerk of the
lawyer Mr. Wickfield in Dickens’s David Copperfield
(1850). Feigning humility, he describes himself as “so very
“umble” while repeatedly wringing his hands. He
insinuates his way into Mr. Wickfield’s confidence and
becomes one of his partners. Heep uses this position to
defraud people of money, until he is exposed, sent to
prison, and condemned to transportation for life. His name
is a byword for obsequiousness and false humility, and
his often repeated gesture of rubbing his hands together
as he speaks is sometimes alluded to in this context.
29. Walter Mitty – James Thurber’s short story “The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1939) relates how a
henpecked husband escapes his wife’s nagging by
retreating into his own world of daydreams in which he is
the hero of many adventures. A Walter Mitty is someone
who lives in a fantasy world, especially someone who
has lost touch with reality.
30. Yahoo – The Yahoos are the imaginary race of brutish
creatures, resembling humans, in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
(1726). They embody all the baser vices and instincts of the
human race. Yahoo refers to a course, loutish, or rowdy
person, or one who engages in wanton vandalism. Also,
a Yahoo can be a rude, noisy or violent person.

BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS
1. Absalom – the favorite son of King David, who led a
rebellion against his father, chasing David out of Jerusalem.
In the subsequent battle, David ordered his men to “deal
gently for my sake with the young man, even with
Absalom,” but his commander Joab ignored this command
and slew Absalom. Absalom was fleeing on a mule, but
was caught by his long hair in the branches of an oak tree.
Joab took three darts and stabbed Absalom in the heart.
David wept on hearing of his son’s death: “O my son,
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died
for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Absalom alludes to the ultimate rebellious son.
2. Alpha and Omega – the beginning and end (used by
Christians as a title for Jesus ) – the essence or most
important features. These are the first and last letters of
the Greek alphabet. Jesus says “I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev.
22:13).
3. Cain – in Genesis, Cain was the first-born son of
Adam and Eve, who murdered his younger brother
Abel. Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel a keeper of
sheep. When they brought their offerings to God, Abel’s
lamb was accepted but Cain’s offering from his harvest was
not. In jealous anger, Cain killed his brother. God
demanded an explanation for Abel’s absence, to which
Cain responded “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was
cursed by God forever and was cast out from his homeland
and forced to live a life of vagrancy for the rest of his life.
God branded him with a mark to indicate that no one
should kill him and shorten his nomadic punishment. The
phrase “mark of Cain” has come to stand for the sign of
a murderer. “Raise Cain” means to cause trouble or a
commotion.
4. Daniel – According to the book of Daniel, he was a
devout Jew who spent his life as one of those taken into
exile in Babylon. He had a gift for interpreting visions and
dreams. He was able to explain the meaning of a strange
dream that Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, had had,
for which he was made the king’s chief adviser. Later, he
interpreted a second dream of N’s to foretell his insanity,
which immediately came to pass. As a result of
disobedience of a law (not to pray to God), Daniel was
thrown in the lion’s den. God sent an angel to shut the
lions’ mouths. Daniel is synonymous with courage of one
who faces great danger alone without any material
protection.
5. David & Bathsheba – Bathsheba was the beautiful wife
of Uriah whom King David took as his mistress after he
had seen her bathing from the roof of the palace. David
sent for her, slept with her, and she became pregnant.
David then arranged for Uriah to be sent into the front line
of the battle in which the Israelites were besieging Rabbah,
and he was killed. After Bathsheba’s period of mourning,
David married her. Bathsheba became the mother of
Solomon.
6. Eye of the Needle Filthy Lucre – lucre – money,
especially when regarded as sordid or distasteful or gained
in a dishonorable way
7. Goliath – was the Philistine giant in the Bible who
issued a challenge to single combat to any opponent from
the Israelite army. The challenge was accepted by the
young David, who slew the over 9-foot tall Goliath with a
stone from a sling. A large or powerful person or
organization can be described as a Goliath, especially if
they are being challenged by someone small and weak. (a
person or thing of enormous size or strength)
8. Good Samaritan – One of Jesus’ parables tells of a
Samaritan who stopped to help a victim of thieves left
wounded by the roadside and already ignored by a priest
and a Levite. This term is used to describe a person who is
helpful and compassionate, especially to those in
adversity.
9. Handwriting on the Wall – Belshazzar, King of
Babylon, gave a great banquet where they drank from
goblets taken from the temple and praised the gods of gold,
silver, etc. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared
and wrote on the wall the words “Mene, Mene, Tekel,
Upharsin.” Daniel translated the words, explaining to
Belshazzar that his reign was over, that he had been
weighed in the balance and found wanting, and that his
kingdom would be divided and given to the Medes and
Persians. The handwriting on the wall is thus a herald
of doom.
10. Ishmael – Ishmael is the son of Abraham by Hagar, the
maid of Abraham’s wife, Sarah. Ishmael was cast out when
Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The name Ishmael is used
allusively for an outcast. The name is used for the
narrator of Melville’s Moby Dick, the opening words of
which are “Call me Ishmael.”
11. Jacob – Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebecca and
twin brother to Esau. He was tricked into marrying Leah,
but he was given Rachel a week later (the one he loved)
after promising to work for an additional seven years.
Jacob and Rachel can be alluded to as patient lovers.
Jacob also gave his brother Esau food (one day Esau who
was extremely hungry wanted Jacob’s food) if Esau would
sell Jacob his birthright as the elder of the twins. Esau did
just that. Jacob pottage is something pleasant and
immediately satisfying for which one gives up
something far more valuable. Jacob also tricked his
father into giving him the blessing due the first-born
(Esau); thus, Jacob can be alluded to as someone who
trick or deceives others to gain what he wants.
12. Job – The Old Testament tells the story of Job, a
prosperous man whose patience and piety God tries, first by
taking away his wealth and then by heaping other
misfortunes upon him, including “loathsome sores.” In
spite of suffering, Job remains humble and accepting. He
does not lose his confidence in the goodness and justice of
God, and his patience is finally rewarded with wealth and
long life. His name is synonymous with forbearance.
13. Job’s comforter – is someone whose attempts to give
sympathy and comfort have the opposite effect—from three
friends of Job’s who came to comfort him but only
increased his distress by telling him that his misfortunes
were the result of his sinfulness
14. Jonah – was a Hebrew minor prophet who was
commanded by God to go to Nineveh and cry against it for
its wickedness. He refused to obey God, and he embarked
on a ship where God sent a storm as punishment. Jonah
was cast into the water by the other sailors as an omen of
bad luck; the storm abated and Jonah was swallowed by a
huge fish. Jonah means someone who has survived a
very difficult or dangerous situation.
15. Judas – Judas Iscariot was the disciple who, in return
for 30 pieces of silver, betrayed Jesus to the Jewish
authorities with a kiss of identification. When he learned
that Jesus was condemned to death, he realized the
enormity of his betrayal and repented, returned the money
and hanged himself. The term Judas is one who betrays a
friend, and a “Judas kiss” is an act of betrayal.
16. King Ahab and Jezebel – Ahab was the idolatrous
(worship of idols) king of Israel who married Jezebel and
introduced into Israel the worship of the Phoenician god
Baal. Ahab’s name became associated with wickedness,
especially the offence of honoring pagan gods.
17. Manna - was the “bread” provided by God for the
Israelites when they were crossing the desert during their
flight from Egypt (Exodus.) It appeared as small white
flakes and would not keep overnight except on the sixth
day when enough was provided to keep for the seventh day,
the Sabbath, on which the travelers were to rest. It tastes
like wafers made with honey. Manna appeared
miraculously. It can mean something beneficial that
appears or is provided unexpectedly or opportunely (a
major aircraft accident is manna to lawyers) – it is also
referred to as spiritual nourishment.
18. Original Sin – the Fall – the tendency to evil
supposedly innate in all human beings, held to be inherited
from Adam in consequence of the Fall. The concept of
original sin was established by the writings of St.
Augustine. The Fall of Man is the time in Jewish and
Christian theology when humankind fell from a state of
innocence into a state of sin. This is taken to be the act of
disobedience by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in
eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
19. Pearl of Great Price – (a parable) A merchant finds a
great pearl and sells all that he has to buy the pearl. The
merchant is on a mission to find something of great value
(like the kingdom of God). This alludes to those who are
searching for something of great value.
20. Philistine – The ancient Philistines were the traditional
enemies of the Israelites, regarded by them as hostile
barbarians. Their name has come to be people who are
indifferent to culture and to the arts and have
uncultivated tastes.
21. Prodigal Son – In a parable told by Jesus, a young
man squandered the property his father gave him “with
riotous living.” He is traditionally known as the Prodigal
Son, meaning one who is spendthrift or recklessly
extravagant. When, repenting his behavior, the son
returned home, he was received with compassion and
forgiveness by his father. “Bring forth the best robe and put
it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet;
and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat,
and be merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again;
he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15: 11-32). The terms
prodigal and prodigal son are now generally used to
refer to a repentant sinner or a returned wanderer, but
prodigal means spending money freely and recklessly or
wastefully extravagant.
22. Ruth and Naomi – Ruth is a book in the Old
Testament. She was a widow who refused to leave her
mother-in-law after the death of her husband, saying
“whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I
will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my
God”. Ruth is the epitome of loyalty and devotion.
23. Samson and Delilah – The book of Judges relates how
Samson, an Israelite leader known for his great strength,
fell in love with Delilah. The Philistines asked her to
discover the secret of his great strength. On three
occasions, when she asked him for the secret, he lied to her.
She continued to ask, telling him that he could not love her
as he claimed if he did not tell her the truth. He told her his
strength was in his hair, which had never been cut. Delilah
arranged to have Samson’s hair shaved while he slept. She
delivered him to the Philistines, who “put out his eyes and
brought him to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass.”
During his captivity, his hair grew back, and being brought
out to make sport for the Philistines during a religious
celebration, he called on God for strength and pulled down
the pillars supporting the temple, destroying himself and a
large number of Philistines. Samson’s hair can be alluded
to when referring to a strong or powerful person
rendered weak and vulnerable.
24. Scapegoat – The scapegoat was a goat which was sent
into the wilderness after a priest had symbolically laid all
the sins of the Israelites upon it so that the sins would be
taken away. The word “scapegoat’ has now come to refer
to any person who takes the blame for the wrongdoings
or failings of others.
25. Sepulcher – a burial vault
26. Sodom and Gomorrah – were towns in ancient
Palestine, probably south of the Dead Sea. According to
Genesis 19:24, they were destroyed by fire and brimstone
(sulphur) from heaven as a punishment for the depravity
and wickedness of their inhabitants. Lot, the nephew of
Abraham, was allowed to escape from the destruction of
Sodom with his family. His wife disobeyed God’s order
not to look back at the burning city and was turned into a
pillar of salt.
27. Solomon – son of David and Bathsheba, was the king
of ancient Israel. He was famed for his wisdom and
justice. The “judgment of Solomon” refers to his
arbitration in a dispute about a baby claimed by each of two
women. Solomon proposed dividing the baby in half with
his sword, and then gave it to the woman who showed
concern for its life.
28. Twelve Tribes of Israel – Twelve kin groups of ancient
Israel, each traditionally descended from one of the twelve
sons of Jacob

HISTORICAL ALLLUSIONS
1. Atilla the Hun (406-453) was the king of the Huns in
434-453. Having attacked and devastated much of the
eastern Roman Empire in 445-450, Attila invaded the
Western Empire but was defeated by the Romans and the
Visigoths in 451. He and his army, noted for their
savagery, were the terror of Europe during his lifetime,
and Attila later came to be called the Scourge of God. He
is supposed to have died either by poison or from a massive
nosebleed.
2. Berserk – means out of control with anger of
excitement; wild or frenzied (was a wild Norse warrior
who fought with frenzy)
3. Bowdlerize – means to remove material that is
considered improper or offensive from a test or account,
especially with the result that the text becomes weaker or
less effective (from the name of Dr. Thomas Bowdler
(1754-1825) who published an expurgated edition of
Shakespeare in 1818) also Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels was
bowdlerized.
4. Boycott – means to withdraw from commercial or social
relations with a country, organization or person as a
punishment or protest (refuse to buy or handle goods as a
protest) (refuse to cooperate with or participate in a policy
or event) = from the name of Captain Charles C. Boycott
(1832-97) an Irish land agent so treated in 1880, in an
attempt instigated by the Irish Land League to get rents
reduced
5. Casanova – Casanova (1725-98) was an Italian
adventurer, spy, gambler, and librarian who, according to
his Memoirs, engaged in a prodigious number of
promiscuous love affairs.
6. Chauvinist – Nicholas Chauvin was a person whose
character was represented as making grotesque and
threatening displays of his attachment to his fallen chief
Napoleon in 1815. Blind and absurd devotion to a fallen
leader or an obsolete cause can be chauvinism.
Exaggerated and unreasoning partisanship to any
group or cause is also chauvinism. A chauvinist is a
person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his
or her own kind.
7. Derrick – Derrick was the surname of a London
hangman (early 17th century). The word denotes a
hangman, also the gallows or a framework (like oil
derrick).
8. Donnybrook – a scene of uproar and disorder; a
heated argument (from mid 19th century, from name of
suburb of Dublin, Ireland, formerly famous for its annual
fair)
9. El Dorado – literally “the Gilded One” – was the
fabled city or country of gold sought in the 16th century by
the Spanish conquistadores, who believed it existed
somewhere in the area of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers.
Any place of fabulous wealth (or a place of great
abundance) can be described as an El Dorado.
10. Hackney – a horse or pony of a light breed with a
high-stepping trot, used in a harness – a horse-drawn
vehicle kept for hire (a hackney coach) – Middle English,
probably from Hackney in East London, where horses
were pastured.
11. Horatio Alger – (1832-99) was an American writer
and clergyman who wrote adventure stories for boys. The
stories were on the theme of rags to riches, with the hero’s
initial struggles with poverty eventually leading to fame
and wealth.
12. Laconic - (of a person, speech or style of writing)
using very few words (mid 16th century via Latin from
Greek – Sparta – Spartans being known for their terse
speech)
13. Limerick - is a nonsense verse of five lines. It could
be attributed to the county and city of Limerick in Ireland,
but the connection is obscure. It is usually attributed to a
party game in which each guest in turn made up a nonsense
verse and all sang a refrain with the line “Will you come up
to Limerick?” Or it could be from Edward Lear (1812-
1888), an English humorist who popularized the form
(Learic = limerick).
14. Machiavellian – Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an
Italian statesman and political philosopher. He is best
known for The Prince, 1532, in which he argues that rulers
may have to resort to methods that are not in themselves
desirable in order to rule effectively. His name has come to
represent the use of deceit and cunning in the pursuit of
personal power – Machiavellian means elaborately
cunning and scheming.
15. Marathon – a long-distance running race, strictly
one of 26 miles and 385 yards or a long-lasting or difficult
task or activity – of great duration – (in Greece, the scene
of a victory over the Persians in 490 BC); the modern race
is based on the tradition that a messenger ran from
Marathon to Athens (22 miles) with news
16. McCarthyism – Joseph McCarthy (1909-57) was an
American Republican senator who became
chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
in 1953 and carried out a campaign against supposed
communists which resulted in many citizens who were
suspected of being members of the Communist Party being
blacklisted and facing discrimination. His name is now
evoked in the context of a witch-hunt, especially a
political one.
17. Meander – from the Greek Maiandros (name of a
river) – follow a winding course; to wander at random;
proceed aimlessly or with little purpose
18. Mesmerize – Franz Mesmer (1734-1815) was an
Austrian physician who had a successful practice in
Vienna, where he used a number of novel treatments. He is
chiefly remembered for the introduction of hypnotism,
known as mesmerism, a therapeutic technique. Mesmerize
is to capture the complete attention of someone; to
transfix.
19. Nostradamus – is the Latinized name by which
Michel de Nostredame (1503-66) is known. He was a
French astrologer and physician and the author of
Centuries (1555). a collection of prophecies written in
rhyming quatrains. Although cryptic and obscure,
Nostradamus’ verses have been interpreted as foretelling
prominent global events over a span of more than 400
years.
20. Sardonic – grimly mocking or cynical – mid-17th
century – from French sardonique – via Latin from Greek –
Sardinia – used by Homer to describe bitter or scornful
laughter
21. Shanghai – is a city in China. Shanghai means to
kidnap a man for compulsory service aboard a ship,
especially after drugging him. The verb shanghai stems
from the former custom of kidnapping sailors to man ships
going to China. It also means to induce or compel
someone to do something, especially by fraud or force.
22. Spartan – The Spartans were the inhabitants of an
ancient Greek city state in the southern Peloponnese. They
were known for their austerity and self-discipline and their
toughness in enduring pain and hardship. The Spartans
were traditionally held to be indifferent to comfort or
luxury. Spartan means showing or characterized by
austerity or a lack of comfort of luxury.
23. Stonewall – to hinder or obstruct by evasive,
delaying tactics – relates to Stonewall Jackson, a
Confederate General at the Battle of Bull Run – “Look at
Jackson’s men; they stand like a stone wall.”
24. Swiftian – satirical – from Jonathan Swift’s famous
satire on politics: Gulliver’s Travels
25. Sybaritic – Sybaris was a Greek colony in southern
Italy, founded c. 720 BC. It was an important trading
center, and its wealth and luxury became proverbial, giving
us the word “sybaritic.” – fond of sensuous luxury or
pleasure; self-indulgent
26. Thespian – Thespis was a Greek dramatic poet of the
6th century BC and is generally regarded as the founder of
Greek tragedy, having introduced the role of the actor in
addition to the traditional chorus. The word Thespian
means “relating to drama or acting.”
27. Uncle Sam – a personification of the federal
government or citizens of the US – early 19th century, to
have arisen as an expansion of the letters US
28. Utopia – literally “No-Place” is an imaginary place
or condition of ideal perfection – first used as the name
of an imaginary island governed on a perfect political
and social system in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir
Thomas More - Utopian has come to mean idealistic
29. Wagnerian – the German composer Richard Wagner
(1813-83) developed an operatic genre which he called
music drama, combining music, drama, verse, legend, and
spectacle – Wagnerian is applied to anything that evokes
the dramatic music, storms, and strong emotions depicted
in Wagner’s operas.
30. Waterloo – a decisive or final defeat or setback,
Belgian 1816, source of Napoleon’s last defeat