Historical Allusions Flashcards Preview

English Literature > Historical Allusions > Flashcards

Flashcards in Historical Allusions Deck (32)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

barbarian, rough leader; King of Huns from 433-453 and the most successful of the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire

A

Attila

2
Q

destructively or frenetically violent, mental, or emotionally upset; a warrior clothed in bear skin who worked himself into a frenzy before battle

A

Berserk

3
Q

undergarments for dance or active wear; underwear formally worn by females that was composed of loose trousers gathered at the ankles; invented by Amelia Jenkins Bloomer, an American social reformer

A

Bloomer

4
Q

to censor, expurgate prudishly, to modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing content; after Thomas Bowdler, who expurgated Shakespeare

A

Bowdlerize

5
Q

to act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion, the act or an instance of ____ after a former British soldier who refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants

A

Boycott (Charles C. Boycott)

6
Q

an overhanging protection or shelter, to cover or hover above; Middle English word canape taken from Latin Canapeum or Conopeum, meaning net curtains

A

Canopy

7
Q

a man who is amorously and gallantly attentive to women; a promiscuous man; Giovanni Jacopo Casanova De Seingalt, an Italian adventurer who established a legendary reputation as a lover

A

Casanova

8
Q

one who has a militant devotion to and glorification of one’s country, fanatical patriotism, prejudiced belief in the superiority of one’s own gender, group, or kind; after Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary French soldier devoted to Napoleon

A

Chauvinist

9
Q

a machine for hoisting and moving heavy objects, consisting of a movable boom equipped with cables and pulleys and connected to the base of an upright stationary beam, a tall framework over a drilled hole, esp. an oil well, used to support boring equipment; named after a London hangman

A

Derrick

10
Q

any riotous occasion; taken from the Donnybrook Fair, held in Dublin County, Ireland until 1855, which was famous for rioting and dissipation

A

Donnybrook

11
Q

a style of casual work pants; from a coarse cotton fabric of East Indian origin; from the Hindu word dungri

A

Dungaree

12
Q

a place of reputed wealth; from the legendary city in South America, sought by early Spanish explorers

A

El Dolorado

13
Q

to make something banal or trite by frequent use, a horse for ordinary riding or driving, a horse kept for hire, let out, employed, or done for hire; from Hackney, the most common breed of heavy harness horses in the US

A

Hackney

14
Q

one who believes that a person can make it on his own merits; from American writer of inspirational adventure books

A

Horatio Alger

15
Q

using or marked by the use of few words, brief; Lakonikos, from the reputation of Spartans for brevity of speech

A

Laconic

16
Q

a humorous or nonsense verse of five lines; from a county in the Republic of Ireland where the form is said to have originated

A

Limerick

17
Q

of or relating to Machiavelli or Machiavellianism, characterized by expedience, deceit, and cunning; after Niccolo Machiavelli, a philosopher known for his treaties and political expediency; wrote “The Prince”

A

Machiavellian

18
Q

a long distance race; source of the Victory of the Greeks over Persians in 490 BC

A

Marathon

19
Q

modern witch hunt, the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversions with insufficient regard to evidence, the use of unfair investigatory or accusatory methods, in order to suppress opposition; after Joseph McCarthy, an American politician who as a US Senator from WWI publicly accused many citizens of subversion

A

McCarthyism

20
Q

to wander aimlessly; originating from Meander, a river in Turkey noted for its winding course

A

Meander

21
Q

to induce the state of being hypnotized; FA Mesmer, a Austrian physician who used hypnotism and developed a theory called “animal magnetism”

A

Mesmerize

22
Q

fortune teller; French physician and astrologer who wrote a book of rhymed prophecies

A

Nostradamus

23
Q

bitterly ironical, sarcastic, sneering; from a Sardinian plant said to bring on fits of laughter

A

Sardonic

24
Q

frugal and bare, simple, disciplined and stern and brave; having to do with Sparta, an important City in Greece; they were known for simplicity of life, severity, courage, and brevity of speech

A

Spartan

25
Q

hinder or obstruct by evasive, delaying tactics; in cricket: trying to go completely defensive, blocking every ball without trying to score; relating to Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate General, from the remark during the Battle of Bull Run: “Look as Jackson’s men; they stand like a stone wall.”

A

Stonewall

26
Q

satirical; from JS’s famous satire on politics in GT

A

Swiftian

27
Q

luxurious, voluptuous, a person who cares very much for luxury and pleasure; an inhabitant of Sybars, a town founded by the Greeks in ancient Italy, which was known for its luxury

A

Sybaritic

28
Q

having to do with the theater or acting; relating to Thespians, so called from Thespis, a Attic poet of the 6th century BC, reputed to be the father of the Greek tragedy

A

Thespian

29
Q

govt of people of the US; derived from the USA– a businessman with initials on shipping boxes in the 1880s

A

Uncle Sam

30
Q

an imaginary and perfect society; British 1610, source: Tomas More’s novel

A

Utopia

31
Q

style of music; loud, dramatic, radical; having to do with Wagner, his music, or his musical styles or theories

A

Wagnerian

32
Q

a decisive or final defeat or setback; Belgian 1816, source of Napoleon’s last defeat

A

Waterloo