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AP Lit > Allusions > Flashcards

Allusions Flashcards

0
Q

Achilles’ Heel

A

The one weakness one may have or most vulnerable

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1
Q

Absolom

A

The son who brought heartache to his father.

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2
Q

Attila

A

Barbarian and rough leader; king of the Huns from 433-453. Most successful of the barbarian invaders

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3
Q

Aeolian

A

Pertaining to the wind

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4
Q

Bowdlerize

A

To censor, shorten, or modify. Bowlder changed and censored Shakespeare.

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5
Q

Cassandra:

A

A person who predicts misfortune, but is not believed.

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6
Q

Cinderella

A

One who gains affluence after neglect

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7
Q

Daniel

A

One known for wisdom and accurate judgment. He read handwriting.

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8
Q

Don Juan

A

Libertine, profligate, man obsessed with seducing women.

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9
Q

Filthy Lucre:

A

Any money or profits. Jesus castes moneylenders out the temple.

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10
Q

Frankenstein

A

Anything that threatens or destroys it’s creator

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11
Q

Hackney

A

To make something banal or trite by frequent use. A horse for ordinary riding or driving.

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12
Q

Junoesque

A

Marked stately by beauty.

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13
Q

King Ahab and Jezabel

A

An evil king of Israel and bus treacherous wife. Synonymous with evil.

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14
Q

Simon Legree

A

Harsh or cruel person in authority

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15
Q

Adonis

A

Handsome young man. Adonis ❤️ Aphrodite

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16
Q

Brobdingnagian

A

Gigantic, enormous, named after Brobdingnag in Gullivers Travels.

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17
Q

Casanova

A

Man amorously and gallantly attentive to women. Promiscuous.
Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt. Italian.

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18
Q

David and Bathsheba

A

Represents a big sin.

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19
Q

Gorgon

A

A very ugly or terrible person. A repulsive woman.

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20
Q

Horatio Alger

A

One who believes that a person can make their own merits

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21
Q

Iridescent

A

Producing colors of the rainbow. From Iris, goddess of the rainbow

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22
Q

Judas

A

A traitor or a treacherous kiss. Name means murderer or assassin.

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23
Q

Laconic

A

Using or marked by the use of few words. Brief, deriving from Lakonikos. Spartan.

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24
Q

Martial

A

Suited for war or a warrior. From Mars.

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25
Q

Milquetoast

A

Surprisingly bland. A timid, weak, and unassertive person.

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26
Q

Panglossian

A

Misleadingly optimistic.

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27
Q

Prodigal Son.

A

Wasteful son who disappoints his father.

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28
Q

Scrooge

A

Bitter old and greedy person.

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29
Q

Shanghai

A

To cheat, steal, or to get by illegal terms

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30
Q

Argus eyed

A

Omnipresent and everywhere

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31
Q

Atlantean

A

Hidden like Atlantis

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32
Q

Babbitt

A

Everyday business man

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33
Q

Jacob

A

Stole the birthright from his brother

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34
Q

Job

A

Loyal and steadfast

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35
Q

Jonah

A

Bein loyal and obedient

36
Q

Lethargy

A

Slow and sluggish

37
Q

Lothario

A

A licentious and mischievous man

38
Q

Machiavellian

A

Cunning, scheming, and sneaky

39
Q

Using a word in the place it shouldn’t be in

A

Accusatory ad suspicious

40
Q

Original Sin

A

Adam and Eve in the Garden?

41
Q

Sisyphean

A

Outrageously difficult task

42
Q

Tartuffe

A

Hypocritical

43
Q

Wagnerian

A

Speakers so lows

44
Q

Bacchanal

A

Pertaining to wine

45
Q

Chimera

A

A large beast

46
Q

Don Quixote

A

Lofty and impractical

47
Q

Eye of the Needle

A

Difficult task

48
Q

Falstaffian

A

Fat and jolly

49
Q

Halcyon

A

Denoting a time of joy

50
Q

Harpy

A

Winged humanoid beast

51
Q

Herculean

A

Relating to Hercules and great feats of strong

52
Q

Ishmael

A

Son of Abraham

53
Q

Manna

A

Magic life force

54
Q

Nostradamus

A

Grand prediction master

55
Q

Swiftian

A

Satirical

56
Q

Thespian

A

Pertaining to theatre

57
Q

Uncle Tom

A

Black man that is servile

58
Q

Waterloo

A

A grand loss or defeat

59
Q

Mercury / Hermes

A

To represent swiftness or quick transition ability.

60
Q

Mentor

A

a trusted counselor or guide; from Mentor, a friend of Odysseus’ son, who was entrusted with his education

61
Q

Protean

A

GRENINJA
Taking many forms, versatile, named after Proteus, a god of the sea, charged with tending the flocks of the sea creatures belonging to Poseidon. He had the ability to change himself into whatever form he desired, using this power particularly when he wanted to elude those asking him questions

62
Q

Pooh-Bah

A

To be haughty and superficial

63
Q

Ruth and Naomi

A

paragons of love between in-laws;
faithful friends. From the OT story of Ruth, who, when
her husband died in battle, left her own land to travel
with his mother back to her people.

64
Q

Samson and Delilah

A

Treacherous love story.
Samson, an Israelite hero and legendary warrior with
extraordinary physical strength, fell in love with
Delilah, a Philistine. When Delilah learned that
Samson’s hair was the source of his strength, she
betrayed him by excepting a Philistine bribe to cut off
his hair while he slept.

65
Q

Derrick

A

Machine for lifting or moving heavy objects

66
Q

Mesmerize

A

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

67
Q

Muse

A

Creature of inspiration

68
Q

Phoenix

A

Symbol of immortality or rebirth

69
Q

Rodomontade

A 
bluster and boasting, to boast
(rodomontading or rodomontaded); from Rodomont, a
brave, but braggart knight in Bojardo's
Orlando
Inamorato
70
Q

Yahoo

A

a boorish, crass, or stupid person; from a
member of a race of brutes in Swift’s
Gulliver’s Travels

71
Q

Berserk

A

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

72
Q

Sardonic

A

bitterly ironical, sarcastic, sneering; from a

Sardinian plant said to bring on fits of laughter

73
Q

Writing on the Wall

A

what the future holds; from
the OT story of Daniel, who was able to accurately
predict some mysterious writing that appeared on a wall
(translated, it predicted the
imminent death of the king)

74
Q

Niobe

A

mournful woman; from Niobe, whose children
were slain by Apollo and Artemis because of her
bragging; the gods pitied her and turned her into a rock
that was always wet from weeping

75
Q

Pyrrhic Victory

A

a too costly victory; from
Pyrrhus, a Greek king who defeated the Romans in 279
BC, but suffered extremely heavy losses in the figh

76
Q

Pearl of Great Price

A

something so precious that one
would devote everything to or give up everything for it.
.In one of Jesus’ parables, the kingdom of heaven is
compared to a pearl of great price, or value, found by a
merchant

77
Q

Stonewall

A 
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 (Thomas J. Jackson) Confederate
78
Q

Parnassus

A

Mountain was sacred to arts and literature;
any center of poetic or artistic activity; .poetry or poets
collectively, a common title for selection of poetry;
named after the hero of Mt. Parnassus, the son of
Poseidon and a Nymph. He founded the oracle of
Python, which was later occupied by Apollo

79
Q

Stentorian

A 
having a loud voice; after Stentor, a
character in the Iliad
who could shout as loudly as 50
men. He engaged in a sh
outing match against Hermes
and was put to death after losing.
80
Q

Solomon

A

Being very wise

81
Q

Dungaree

A

a style of casual work pants; from a coarse

cotton fabric of East Indian origin; from the Hindu

82
Q

Pegasus

A

Poetic inspiration; named after a winged horse
which sprang from the blood of Medusa at her death; a
stamp of his hoof caused Hippocrene, the fountain of the
Muses, to issue poetic inspiration from Mount Helicon.

83
Q

Friday

A

A faithful and willing attendant, ready to turn
his hand to anything; from the young savage found by
Robinson Crusoe on a Friday, and kept as his servant
and companion on the desert island

84
Q

Job’s “comforters”

A

“friends” who try to help by
bringing blame; ironically, Job’s “comforters” didn’t
comfort at all but were the source of more affliction.

85
Q

Bloomer

A

undergarments for dance or active wear;
underwear formally worn by females that was composed
of loose trousers gathered at the ankles; invented by
Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-94), and American social
reformer

86
Q

Plutocracy

A

a government by the wealthy; named after
Pluton, the “Rich Man,” a ritual tile of Hades. He was
originally the god of the fields because the ground was
the source of all wealth, ores and jewels.

87
Q

Jekyll and Hyde

A

A capricious person with two sides
to his/her personality; from a character in the famous
novel
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
who had more than one
personality, a split personality (one good and one evil

88
Q

Little Lord Fauntleroy

A

refers either to a certain type
of children’s clothing or to a beautiful, but pampered and
effeminate small boy; from a work by Frances H.
Burnett, the main character,
seven-year-old Cedric Errol,
was a striking figure, dressed in black velvet with a lace
collar and yellow curls

AP Lit (4 decks)

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