Sunday, September 14, 2008

Hoisted by your own petard

Petard    pe·tard

1. an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, form a breach in a wall, etc.
2. a kind of firecracker.
—Idiom
3. hoist by or with one's own petard, hurt, ruined, or destroyed by the very device or plot one had intended for another.

Word History:  In French, petard refers to "a loud discharge of intestinal gas."

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