The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions

1 THE Oxford Dictionary OF Allusions <-r*^* MO ^ f 4 m w/^ P"- Allusions form a colourful extension to the English language, drawing on our collective knowledge of literature, mythology, and the Bible to provide us with a literary shorthand for describing people, places, and events. So a miser is a Scrooge, a strong man is a Samson or a Hercules, a beautiful woman is a Venus or a modern-day Helen of Troy we can suffer like Sisyphus, fail like Canute, or linger like the smile of the Cheshire Cat.

2 This completely new reference work explains the meanings of the Allusions in use in modern English, from Abaddon to Zorro, Tartarus to Tarzan, and Cinderella to Rambo. The book is based on an extensive reading programme that has identified the most commonly-used Allusions , and a wealth of quotations are included to illustrate usage, drawn from a range of authors and sources, from Thomas Hardy to Ben Elton, Charles Dickens to Bridget Jones's Diary. OXTORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ISBN 0-19-860031-3 780198 600312"> RRP $ USA Andrew Delahunty, Sheila Dignen, and Penny Stock are all freelance lexicographers with many years experience in writing dictionaries and other reference works.

3 Between them they have worked on a wide range of books including dictionaries for adults, children, and those learning English as a foreign language. This book grew out of their shared interest in the subject of Allusions . Jacket illustration: Echo and Narcissus, 1903, by John William Waterhouse, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool/Bridgeman Art Library. Board of Trustees: National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside. Classic dictionaries from Oxford : THE Oxford Dictionary OF PHRASE & FABLE Edited by Elizabeth Knowles A major reference work, diis book provides a wealth of fascinating and informative background detail for over 20,000 phrases used in English today.

4 From Barbie doll to the seven-league boots, this highly browsable/> <w/>o m of terms includes entries from a broad range of topics, from classical mythology, history, religion, folk customs, popular culture, science and technology, and many more. THE Oxford Dictionary OF QUOTATIONS 5th edition } Edited by \ . Elizabeth Knowles Acclaimed for its broad and authoritative coverage, this major new edition contains 20,000 quotations and a new thematic index. New sections bring together Advertising slogans, Epitaphs, Film lines, Misquotations, and other special categories, such as Catchphrases, Opening lines, and Political slogans and songs.

5 'Invaluable' The Times The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions Andrew Delahunty Sheila Dignen, and Penny Stock Oxford UNIVERSITY PRESS OXTORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford . It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris S o Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the

6 United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Andrew Delahunty, Sheila Dignen, and Penny Stock 2001 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (makers) First published 2001 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.

7 Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19-860031-3 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Designed by Jane Stevenson Typeset in Photina and Quay Sans by Interactive Sciences Ltd Printed in Great Britain by T.

8 J. International, Padstow Contents Introduction vii List of Themes xi List of Special Entries xiii Dictionary 1 Index 423 Introduction An allusion may be defined as the mention of the name of a real person, historical event, or literary character which is not simply a straightforward reference (as in 'Hercules was an ancient Greek hero') but which conjures up some extra meaning, embodying some quality or characteristic for which the word has come to stand.

9 So, we can describe a miser as a Scrooge, a strong man as a Hercules, a beautiful woman as a Venus. The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions aims to identify and explain many such Allusions used in English and to illustrate their use by quotations from a variety of literary works and other texts. In the style of a thesaurus the entries are grouped the-matically under such headings as Anger, Change, Dreams, Ex-plorers, and Revenge. Writers use Allusions in a variety of ways. They can be used as a kind of shorthand, evoking instantly a complex human experience embedded within a story or dramatic event.

10 For example, in this passage from Jude the Obscure, Arabella ascended the stairs, softly opened the door of the first bedroom, and peeped in. Finding that her shorn Samson was asleep she entered to the bedside and started regarding him, Thomas Hardy's phrase 'shorn Samson' succinctly expresses Ara-bella's quiet triumph at finally having Jude in her power. Allusions can convey powerful visual images, as Robertson Davies does in his reference to the tangled limbs and snakes of the classical statue of Laoco n (described in the theme Struggle) in Leaven of Malice: 'And seeing it's you, I'll give you a hint: the way the string's tied, you can get loose at once if he lies down flat and you crawl right up over his head; then the string drops off without untying the knots.