| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Scapegoat | Book of Leviticus |
| Scapegoat | Day of Atonement |
| Scapegoat | symbolically place the sins of the Israelites on a goat |
| Scapegoat | taking the sins of the people with it |
| Scapegoat | person who is blamed or punished for someone else's misdeeds |
| Flash in the Pan | Flintlock rifles |
| Flash in the Pan | ignition pan |
| Flash in the Pan | initially shows great promise |
| Flash in the Pan | fails to meet expectations |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | Cervantes |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | too many romances |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | knightly adventures |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | windmills |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | tilting at windmills |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | foolishly or impractically idealistic |
| Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills | naive attempt to be heroic |
| Benedict Arnold | military leader |
| Benedict Arnold | American Revolution |
| Benedict Arnold | traitorous |
| Benedict Arnold | surrender a key fort to the British |
| Benedict Arnold | traitor |
| Delphic Oracle | ancient Greece |
| Delphic Oracle | Delphi |
| Delphic Oracle | Temple of Apollo |
| Delphic Oracle | priestess |
| Delphic Oracle | difficult to interpret and riddle-like |
| Delphic Oracle | ambiguous and difficult to interpret |
| Sour Grapes | "The Fox and the Grapes" |
| Sour Grapes | fable by Aesop |
| Sour Grapes | were probably sour anyway |
| Sour Grapes | attitude |
| Sour Grapes | disappointed or thwarted |
| Sour Grapes | bitterly rationalizes |
| Sour Grapes | not so great after all |
| Sold Down the River | nineteenth-century America |
| Sold Down the River | slavery |
| Sold Down the River | sell their house servants |
| Sold Down the River | plantation owners in the South |
| Sold Down the River | Mississippi |
| Sold Down the River | betrayed |
| Sold Down the River | betrayed or misled |
| Sold Down the River | by someone trusted |
| Nemesis | Greek goddess of vengeance and retribution |
| Nemesis | excessive pride |
| Nemesis | causes his or her downfall |
| Pyrrhic Victory | Pyrrhus |
| Pyrrhic Victory | general |
| Pyrrhic Victory | Greece |
| Pyrrhic Victory | defeating the Romans |
| Pyrrhic Victory | suffered great losses |
| Pyrrhic Victory | winner's victory comes at such a great expense |
| Pyrrhic Victory | scarcely better than losing |
| Over a Barrel | rescued from drowning |
| Over a Barrel | totally dependent |
| Over a Barrel | unable to act independently |
| Over a Barrel | must do the bidding of someone else |
| Shibboleth | Hebrew word |
| Shibboleth | Old Testament |
| Shibboleth | Israelites |
| Shibboleth | password |
| Shibboleth | prevent their enemies |
| Shibboleth | slogan or catchword used by, or associated with, a particular party, group, or sect. |
| Doublespeak | 1984, George Orwell |
| Doublespeak | propaganda |
| Doublespeak | language is used ambiguously |
| Doublespeak | deliberate use of evasive or ambiguous language |
| Murphy's Law | saying |
| Murphy's Law | "If anything can go wrong, it will." |
| Murphy's Law | something goes wrong |
| Murphy's Law | sense of inevitability |
| Medusa | gorgons |
| Medusa | three sisters in Greek mythology |
| Medusa | snakes for hair |
| Medusa | turned anyone who looked at them in stone |
| Medusa | repulsive or terrifying woman |
| Medusa | wild, unruly hair |
| Hoist with one's own petard | weapon used in medieval warfare |
| Hoist with one's own petard | filled with gunpowder |
| Hoist with one's own petard | exploded prematurely |
| Hoist with one's own petard | blown up |
| Hoist with one's own petard | caught in one's own trap |
| Hoist with one's own petard | beaten at one's own game |
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