AP English Literature Allusions Flashcards
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| 7766749586 | Achilles' Heel | Area of particular vulnerability | 0 | |
| 7766754069 | Pound of Flesh | insistence on being repaid | 1 | |
| 7766761127 | Sacred Cow | something that cannot be interfered with or harmed in any way | 2 | |
| 7766765159 | Crossing the Rubicon | to take an irreversible step | 3 | |
| 7766769838 | Pearls before Swine | to offer something precious to someone, or a group of people, unable to appreciate the value | 4 | |
| 7766779459 | Once in a Blue Moon | Something that occurs very rarely | 5 | |
| 7766782547 | Mrs. Grundy | narrow minded, conventional, prudish person | 6 | |
| 7766787727 | Crocodile Tears | False sympathy for someone | 7 | |
| 7766790311 | Sirens | anything that temps a person away from safety and towards a destructive path | 8 | |
| 7766800611 | Read the Riot Act | to issue a stern warning that if unacceptable behavior does not cease, severe consequences will follow | 9 | |
| 7766821008 | Thirty Pieces of Silver | payment received for an act of treachery | 10 | |
| 7766828196 | Betrayed with a Kiss | A supposed friends treachery | 11 | |
| 7766835908 | Gordian Knot | A complex problem | 12 | |
| 7766839011 | Ivory Tower | secluded or protected from the real world and thus out of reality | 13 | |
| 7766845004 | All that Glitters is not Gold | appears valuable on the outside, maybe less valuable; Appearances can be deceptive | 14 | |
| 7766861488 | Sound and Fury | Great tumultuous and passionate uproar that is unimportant and meaningless | 15 | |
| 7766884135 | Bread and Circuses | to prevent unrest by keeping people happy and thus deflecting concern | 16 | |
| 7766887847 | Deus ex Machina | Surprising turn of events that suddenly makes things turn out all right; unsatisfying and overly convenient way to end a story | 17 | |
| 7766900137 | Tabula Rasa | Unmarked and Uninfluenced | 18 | |
| 7766906965 | Tantalus | offered something desirable which is then withheld | 19 | |
| 7766912089 | NIMBY (Not in my Backyard) | aware of the necessity of some unpleasant realities, but insist on them being located away from where they live | 20 | |
| 7766925427 | Waterloo | Suffer an ultimate, decisive defeat | 21 | |
| 7766932509 | The Emperor's new clothes | pointing out the falseness or pretentiousness of something | 22 | |
| 7766941198 | Left-Handed compliment | a compliment that is rude in some way | 23 | |
| 7766944575 | Gold Calf | worshiped even though not worthy of it | 24 | |
| 7766954389 | Sword of Damocles | Awareness of imminent danger | 25 | |
| 7766961423 | Svengali | A person who exercises excessive control or influence over another person | 26 | |
| 7766969417 | Non-Sequitur | Conclusion that does not follow the premises | 27 | |
| 7766978630 | White Elephant | an object that has no use to its owner; financial burden or an inconvenience | 28 | |
| 7766997447 | Icarus/Fly too Close to the Sun | to fail or be destroyed because of lack of caution or excessive ambition | 29 |