Flashcards: Allusions 1-15 First Semester
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Created by:
theroberts 
on August 6, 2010
Subjects:
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Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Achilles' heel | a person's area of particular vulnerability |
| pound of flesh | used to describe someone's insistence on being repaid |
| sacred cow | refers to something that cannot be interfered with or harmed in any way |
| crossing the Rubicon | taking an irreversible step, often involving some danger |
| to cast one's pearls before swine | to offer something precious to someone unable to appreciate the value of what is being given |
| once in a blue moon | something that occurs very rarely |
| Mrs. Grundy/Grundyism | an attitude of narrow-minded prudishmess |
| to shed crocodile tears | to show false sympathy for someone |
| sirens | anything that tempts a person away from safety and toward a destructive path |
| read the riot act | issue a stern warning |
| thirty pieces of silver; kiss of betrayal | payment received for an act of treachery; a supposed friend's treachery |
| Gordian knot; cutting the Gordian knot | any extremely complex problem; solving such a problem in a quick, decisive manner |
| ivory tower | an unreachable place; being out of touch with reality |
| all that glitters is not gold | something that appears valuable on the outside may in fact be less than valuable |
| sound and fury | a great, tumultuous, and passionate uproar that actually is unimportant or meaningless |