Allusions Flashcards
Babbitt
materialistic, complacent, and conformist businessman
Brobdingnagian
gigantic in size or scale
Bumble
arrogance or conceit of the petty dignitary
Don Juan
reputation for seducing women
Don Quixote
insanity, idealism, and thinness; foolish, mistakenly idealist; believes that he can set the world right by himself; fights against illusory evils or fails to see things how they really are
Quixotic
extremely idealistic, unrealistic, or impractical
Falstaffian
fat, jolly, and debauched
Galahad
chivalrous heroism, nobility, integrity, or courtesy
Jekyll and Hyde
someone whose personality appears to undergo an abrupt transformation, particularly from gentleness to aggressiveness or violence; changing into Mr. Hyde can be paralleled with becoming evil
Lilliputian
petty, pretentious, and facetious, “trivial or very small”
Little Lord Fauntlerov
an excessively well-mannered or elaborately dressed young boy
Lothario
someone who partakes in free indulgence in sensual pleasures
Malapropism
aptitude for misusing long words
Milquetoast
submissive, meek, or timid person
Panglossian
an optimistic person despite the circumstances
Pickwickian
jovial, generous, and unworldly in character and short, plump, and bespectacled in appearance
Pollyanna
cheerfulness in the most unpromising situations (may be perceived as naivety by others)
Pooh-bah
a self-important person; a person holding many offices at once
Scrooge
any mean or tight-fisted person
Simon Legree
a brutal taskmaster (plantation owner in Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
Svengali
someone who establishes nearly complete or total influence over someone else, mesmeric influence on another; usually for a sinister purpose
Tartuffe
a religious hypocrite or a hypocritical pretender to excellence of any kind
Uncle Tom
black man who has behavior that is considered to be submissively servile to whites; anyone who betrays social allegiances
Uriah Heep
obsequious and false humility (or alluded to the gesture of him rubbing his hands together)
Walter Mitty
someone who lives in a fantasy world, especially someone who has lost touch with reality
Yahoo
a course, loutish, or rowdy person, or one who engages in wanton vandalism; a rude, noisy, or violent person
Absalom
the ultimate rebellious son
Alpha and Omega
the beginning and the end; the essence or most important features
Cain
murderer, “mark of Cain”- sign of a murderer, “raise Cain”- cause trouble or commotion
Daniel
courage; someone who faces great danger without material protection
David & Bathsheba
David sleeps with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. David sends Uriah into the front line of battle to get killed. Bathsheba mourns for a bit and then marries David.
Eye of the Needle Filthy Lucre
distasteful money
Goliath
a person or thing of enormous size or strength
Handwriting on the Wall
a herald of doom
Ishmael
an outcast
Jacob
a patient lover OR something pleasurable or immediately satisfying OR someone who tricks or deceives others to gain what he wants
Job
humbleness, forbearance
Job’s comforter
someone who tries to provide comfort but has the opposite effect
Jonah
someone who has survived a difficult or dangerous situation
Judas
one who betrays a friend, a “Judas kiss” is an act of betrayal
King Ahab and Jezebel
wickedness, especially the offense of honoring pagan gods
Manna
something beneficial that is provided unexpectedly or opportunely (spiritual nourishment)
Original Sin
The Fall (of man), original sin of Adam and Eve
Pearl of Great Price
alludes to those who are searching for something of great value
Philistine
people who are indifferent to culture and the arts and have uncultivated tastes
Prodigal Son
a repentant sinner OR returned wanderer OR wasteful extravagance (prodigal meaning)
Ruth and Naomi
epitome of loyalty and devotion
Samson and Delilah
Samson’s hair can be alluded to when referring to a powerful person rendered vulnerable (Delilah found his Achilles heel!)
Scapegoat
a person who takes the blame for the wrongs of others
Sepulcher
a burial vault
Sodom and Gomorrah
depravity and wickedness
Solomon
wisdom and justice
Twelve Tribes of Israel
twelve kin groups of ancient Israel, each traditionally descended from one of the 12 sons of Jacob
Atilla the Hun
savagery
Berserk
wild or frenzied
Bowdlerize
remove “improper or offensive” material, which often causes the text to lose meaning
Casanova
Italian, promiscuous love affairs
Chauvinist
blind or absurd devotion to a leader, exaggerated or unreasonable partisanship to a group, someone who believes in the superiority of his/her own kind
Derrick
gallows/framework/hangman
Donnybrook
uproar or disorder
El Dorado
“the Gilded One”, a place of fabulous wealth
Hackney
a horse or pony, a horse-drawn vehicle
Horatio Alger
rags to riches, adventure stories for boys
Laconic
using very few words, paralleled with “Sparta”
Limerick
nonsense verse of 5 lines
Machiavellian
deceit, cunning, scheming in pursuit of personal power
Nostradamus
foretelling prominent global events
Sardonic
bitter or scornful laughter
Shanghai
to compel someone to do something, especially by fraud or force
Spartan
characterized by austerity or lack of comfort for luxury
Stonewall
to hinder by delaying tactics
Swiftian
satirical
Sybaritic
fond of sensuous luxury or pleasure; self-indulgent
Thespian
related to drama or acting
Uncle Sam
a personification of the federal government or the citizens of the US
Wagnerian
a term applied to anything that evokes the dramatic music, storms, and strong emotions depicted in Wagner’s operas
Waterloo
a decisive or final defeat or setback
