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Conditions for Mechanicsburg, PA, US
|
59°F |
9 mph E | 0.1 mi
Your local forecast:
Sunrise / Sunset:
6:27 am / 6:08 pm
| Wed | Thu |
|
|
| 59°F/44°F | 62°F/50°F |
6:27 am / 6:08 pm
data courtesy of Weather.com
AP - President Barack Obama denounced waste, inefficiency and downright fraud in the government's health care system Wednesday as he sought to rally public support for his revamped overhaul plan.
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petard
\puh-TAHRD\
noun
a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall
a firework that explodes with a loud report
Example Sentence
"The blast occurred on Sunday afternoon in a farmer's house in the Anhui Province, destroying six rooms which stored materials for making petards and firecrackers." (RIA Novosti, January 11, 2010) Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, "petard" is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase "hoist with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme." The phrase comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar." "Hoist" in this case is the past participle of the verb "hoise," meaning "to lift or raise," and "petar(d)" refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against Hamlet being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
\puh-TAHRD\
noun
a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall
a firework that explodes with a loud report
Example Sentence
"The blast occurred on Sunday afternoon in a farmer's house in the Anhui Province, destroying six rooms which stored materials for making petards and firecrackers." (RIA Novosti, January 11, 2010) Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, "petard" is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase "hoist with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme." The phrase comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar." "Hoist" in this case is the past participle of the verb "hoise," meaning "to lift or raise," and "petar(d)" refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against Hamlet being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
powered by Merriam-Webster Online
It is in men as in soils where sometimes there is a vein
of gold which the owner knows not of.
Swift (1667-1745) English Author
Swift (1667-1745) English Author