The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

Chernobyl
90
Chernobyl (chernobbl) A nuclear accident,
especially one on a large scale. <strong>The</strong> reference is to
the nuclear power station at Chernobyl in the former
Soviet Union, which exploded on April 26,
1986, resulting in around 250 (indirectly, possibly
many more) deaths, the evacuation of a substantial
area of what is now Ukraine, and radioactive
contamination of large parts of Eu rope. <strong>The</strong> reactor
itself was subsequently encased in concrete to
prevent further radioactive leaks. <strong>The</strong> incident,
which remains the worst nuclear accident ever to
take place, is often referred to in discussions of the
dangers of nuclear power, but is also invoked in
wider contexts. Some claim that the infl uence of tele vision
has led to western civilization facing a cultural
Chernobyl. See also china syndrome; meltdown;
three mile island.
cherub (cherăb) A sweet, angelic child. <strong>The</strong>
word was used in the Bible to refer to a class of
angels attending upon the throne of God in heaven
(for example, Ezekiel 10:2–7). <strong>The</strong>y are generally
represented in art as plump, winged babies. “To
think o’ that dear cherub! And we found her wi’
her little shoes stuck i’ the mud an’ crying fi t to
break her heart by the far horse- pit” (George Eliot,
Adam Bede, 1859).
che sarà, sarà (kay sbrah sbrah) What ever will be,
will be. This familiar ac cep tance of the inevitable,
in Italian, was the motto of the dukes of Bedford,
although it became more widely familiar in the
form que sera, sera in the 1950s as the title of a
pop u lar song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and
recorded by Doris Day. It wasn’t what I wanted, but
che sarà, sarà.
Cheshire Cat (chesher) Resembling in some way
the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland (1865). <strong>The</strong> Cheshire Cat is remarkable
both for its wide smile and (in Carroll’s work)
for its ability to vanish repeatedly until all that is
left is its grin. A person who smiles broadly, especially
at some private joke or satisfaction, is likely
to be said to grin (or smile) like a Cheshire Cat.
Though made famous by Carroll, the Cheshire Cat
was not his invention, being referred to in literature
of the late 18th century, and possibly earlier.
It has been suggested that the concept of the
Cheshire Cat may derive from the custom of
stamping Cheshire cheeses with the image of a
grinning cat. She came into the kitchen, smiling like a
Cheshire Cat and brandishing the letter that said she’d
won a scholarship.
chiaroscuro (keearbskooro) Light and shade,
especially in paintings. From the Italian for “lightdark,”
the term became current during the
renais sance with reference to contemporary
painting but has since been applied more widely.
“But I was getting a trifl e chilled—just a trifl e, you
know, and on this beautiful day—he waved a
gloved hand at the brilliant sky and the buildings,
dazzling in a chiaroscuro of stone and snow, the
snow making the grey stone look black, the stone
making the snow blindingly pure” (Peter Carter,
Bury the Dead, 1986).
chicken in every pot, a <strong>The</strong> prospect of prosperity
for all. <strong>The</strong> fi rst expression of this assurance to
a whole nation appears to date from the late 16th
century, when Henry IV of France told the French
people: “I wish that there would not be a peasant
so poor in all my realm who would not have a
chicken in his pot every Sunday.” Centuries later,
in 1928, the phrase became linked with U.S. presidential
candidate Herbert Hoover—although in
fact he never actually said it in quite this form.