SAT words/ Allusions #6

Philistines/ Philistinism

-Old Testament; enemies of the Israelites; David; giant Philistine warrior-Goliath

-refers to person w/ no appreciation for culture and whose tastes are common place

Faust/ Fausticy Bargain

-plays by Christopher Marlome(Dr. Faust); Geethe(Faust); sells his soul; have everything he desires; despair

-refers to sacrificing one's self or one's values in exchange for getting what one desires, often material wealth

Coals to Newcastle

-coal mining city; England; superfluous

-refers to give a superfluous gift or making contribution that is gratuitous and unnecessary

Freudian Slip

-Sigmund Freud; Austrian physician and psychotherapist; subconscious mind in human behavior

-unintentional or accidental slip

Sisyphus/Sisyphean

-Greek mythology; king who offended Zeus; boulder up a hill; roll back down to bottom; start task over again

-seeming endless

Muthuselah

-oldest of the patriarchs in the Bible

-969 years old

Scylla and Charybdis

-greek mythology; many-headed sea creature; cave on one side of narrow strait; steer ships very carefully between the two

-caught between two equal dangers

Holy Grail

-Medieval legend; object of quest; cup from which jesus drank at the Last Supper; legends of King Arthur and Knights at the Round Table

-extremely desirable

Luddites

-British laborers in early 1800s; opposed industrialization; threatened their jobs; smashed textile machinery

-someone who opposes changes, especially industrial or technological advances

Pass the Buck

-in poker; marker that was passed to the person whose turn it was to deal; Harry Truman

-shift responsibility

Babylon

-capital of ancient Babylonian Empire; luxury and corruption; Jews were exiled; prophet Daniel

-place of decadence or corruption

Xanado

-Mongolia; Mongol emperor of China, Kublai Khan; magnificent residence; poem "Kubla Khan"(1816) by Samuel Coleridge

-refers to any magnificent, beautiful, almost magical place

Phoenix/Rising from the ashes

-mythological bird; one of a kind; five or six hundred years; burn itself to death and then rise from its own ashes

-to symbolize rebirth or resurrection and "rising from one's own ashes"

Muckrackers

-President Theodore Roosevelt; reform minded journalists; badge of honor; exposed corruption or promoted needed reforms

Sine qua hen

-Latin; "without which, nothing"

-refers ti essential ingredient without which an endeavor or a situation would be impossible

Marauder

raider; intruder

Emit

to send or give aid; to express, utter; to put in circulation as money

Engulf

surround or enclose completely

Umbrage

sense of injury or insult; to take offense, displeasure

Abominate

extreme hatred; loathing; something dispised

Rivet

something that fastens two parts together; also to hold the attention of

Rudimentary

basic, crude, underdeveloped; fundamental principles or skills

Abridge

to shorten; to condense; to diminish; to curtail

Fester

to generate pus; to become a source of resentment or irritation

Entomb

to place in or as if in a tomb; or in a grave