Flashcards: Allusions 1-15 Second Semester
About these flashcards
Created by:
theroberts 
on January 27, 2011
All 15 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 stealing someone's thunder | taking credit for the idea of another |
| witch hunt | campaign against a particular group of people |
| throw down the gauntlet | issue a challenge in a dramatic manner |
| the muses | source of inspiration |
| Kafkaesque | bizarre, surreal, or anxiety-producing |
| Tower of Babel | noisy confusion |
| Pollyanna | someone who is unusually optimistic |
| Pavlov's dogs | someone who automatically or instinctively responds to or obeys a signal |
| bedlam | wildly chaotic or extremely noisy |
| handwriting on the wall | indication that doom or misfortune is coming |
| albatross around one's neck | burdensome, ongoing problem |
| Prometheus/Promethean | valiant resistance to authority |
| juggernaut | a destructive force that defies opposition |
| red herring | something that diverts someone onto a false trait or distracts a person from the true issue |
| Pharisees/Pharisaical | hypocrite who upholds the letter of the law but not its spirit |