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AP English Allusions - Literature Flashcards

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5190085414Babbitta self-satisfied person concerned chiefly with business and middle-class ideals like material success; a member of the American working class whose unthinking attachment to its business and social ideals is such to make him a model of narrow-mindedness and self-satisfaction L: after George F. Babbitt, the main character in the novel "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis0
5190085415Brobdingnagiangigantic, enormous, on a large scale, enlarged L: after Brobdingnag, the land of giants visited by Gulliver in "Gulliver's Travels", by Jonathan Swift1
5190085416Bumbleto speak or behave clumsily or faltering, to make a humming or droning sound L: Middle English bomblem; a clumsy religious figure (a beadle) in a work of literature2
5190085417Cinderellaone who gains affluence or recognition after obscurity and neglect, a person or thing whose beauty or worth remains unrecognized L: after the fairytale heroine who escapes from a life of drudgery through the intervention of a fairy godmother and marries a handsome prince3
5190085418Don Juana libertine, profligate, a man obsessed with seducing women L: after Don Juan, the legendary 14th century Spanish nobleman and libertine4
5190085419Don Quixotesomeone overly idealistic to the point of having impossible dreams L: form the crazed and impoverished Spanish novel who sets out to retrieve the glory of knighthood, romanticized in the musical "The Man of La Mancha" based on the story by Vervantes5
5190085420Panglossianblindly or misleadingly optimistic L: after Dr. Pangloss in "Candide" by Voltaire, a pedantic old tutor6
5190085421Falstaffianfull of wit and bawdy humor L: after Falstaff, a fat, sensual, boastful, and mendacious knight who was the companion of Henry, Prince of Wales7
5190085422Frankensteinanything that threatens or destroys its creator L: from the young scientist in Mary Shelley's novel of this name, who creates a monster that eventually destroys him8
5190085423Fridaya faithful and willing attendant, ready to turn his hand to anything L: from the young savage found by Robin Crusoe on a Friday, and kept as his servant and companion on the desert island9
5190085424Galahada pure and noble man with limited ambition L: in the legends of King Arthur, the purest and most virtuous knight of the Round Table, the only knight to find the Holy Grail10
5190085425Jekyll and Hydea capricious person with two sides to his/her personality L: from a character in the famous novel "Dr. Jekyll and Hyde" who had more than one personality; a split personality (one good and one evil)11
5190085426Lilliputiandescriptive of a very small person or of something diminutive, trivial, or petty L: after the Lilliputians, tiny people in "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift12
5190085427Little Lord Fauntleroyrefers either to a certain type of children's clothing or to a beautiful, but pampered and effeminate small boy L: from a work by Frances H. Burnett, the main character, seven-year-old Cedric Errol, was a striking figure, dressed in black velvet with a lace collar and yellow cards13
5190085428Lotharioused to describe a man whose chief interest is seducing a woman L: from the play "The Fair Penitent" by Nicholas Rowe, the main character and the seducer14
5190085429Malapropismthe usually unintentional humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase, especially the sue of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in context example: polo bears. L: Mrs. Malaprop was a character noted for her misuse of words in R. B. Sheridan's comedy "The Rivals"15
5190085430Milquetoasta timid, weak, or unassertive person L: from Casper Milquetoast, who was a comic strip character created by H. T. Webster16
5190085431Pickwickianhumorous, sometimes derogatory L: from Samuel Pickwick, a character in Charles Dickens' "Pickwickian Papers"17
5190085432Pollyannaa person characterized by impermissible optimism and a tendency to find good in everything, a foolishly or blindly optimistic person L: from Eleanor Porter's heroine, Pollyanna Whittier, in the book "Pollyanna"18
5190085433Pooh-baha pompous, ostentatious official, especially one who, holding many offices, fulfills none of them, a person who holds high office L: after Pooh-Bah Lord-High-Everything-Else, character in "The Mikado", a musical by Gilbert and Sullivan19
5190085434Quixotichaving foolish and impractical ideas of honor, or schemes for the general good L: after Done Quixote, a half-crazy reformer and knight of the supposed distressed, in a novel by the same name20
5190085435Robota machine that looks like a human being and performs various acts of a human being, a similar but functional machine whose lack of capacity for human emotions is often emphasized by an efficient, insensitive person who functions automatically L: a mechanism guided by controls from Karel Capek Rossum's "Universal Robots" (1920), taken from the Czech "robota," meaning drudgery21
5190085436Rodomontadebluster and boasting, to boast (rodomontading or rodomontaded) L: from Rodomont, a brace, but braggart knight in Bojardo's "Orlando Inamorato"; King of Sarza to Algiers, son of Ulteus, and commander of both horse and foot in the Saracen Army22
5190085437Scroogea bitter and/or greedy person L: from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", an elderly stingy miser who is given a reality check by 3 visiting ghosts23
5190085438Simon Legreea harsh, cruel, or demanding person in authority; such as an employer or officer that acts in this manner L: from "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Ward, the brutal slave overseer24
5190085439Svengalia person with an irresistible hypnotic power L: from a person in a novel written in 1894 by George Mauriers; a musician who hypnotizes and gains control over the heroine25
5190085440Tartuffehypocrite or someone who is hypocritical L: central character in a comedy by Moliere produced in 1667; Moliere was famous for his hypocritical piety26
5190085441Uncle Tomsomeone thought to have the timid service attitude like that of a slave to his owner L: from the humble, pious, long-suffering Negro slave in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by abolitionist writer Stowe27
5190085442Uriah Heepa fawning roadie, an obsequious person L: from a character in Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield" (1849-1850)28
5190085443Walter Mittya commonplace non-adventuresome person who seeks escape from reality through daydreaming, a henpecked husband or dreamer L: after a daydreaming henpecked "hero" in a story by James Thurber29
5190085444Yahooa boorish, cress, or stupid person L: from a member of a race of brutes in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" who have the form and all the vices of humans30

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