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

Clouseau, Inspector
98
duly arrives after Elijah has dispatched his servant
to keep watch from Mount Carmel a seventh time:
“And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he
said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the
sea, like a man’s hand . . . And it came to pass . . .
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind,
and there was a great rain.” “<strong>The</strong> prospect was
bright, and the air sunny. In the midst of all which
there rose in the horizon a cloud, like that seen by
Elijah’s servant, a cloud no bigger than a man’s
hand” (Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place,
1870).
Clouseau, Inspector See inspector clouseau.
cloven hoof An evil nature; some physical indicator
of such a nature. According to the law as
laid down by Moses, only animals with cloven
hoofs were suitable as food or as sacrifi cial offerings
(Deuteronomy 14:3–8). <strong>The</strong> dev il was conventionally
depicted by medieval artists as having
cloven hoofs, a detail probably borrowed from
pagan gods, hence the modern signifi cance of the
term. According to pop u lar belief, the dev il, no
matter his disguise is unable to hide his cloven
hoofs and can always be detected in this way. To
show the cloven foot means to reveal a base
motive or innate wickedness. Several people who
witnessed the great man’s actions that eve ning privately
agreed that they might have caught a fi rst glimpse of
his cloven hoof.
clowns, send in the See send in the clowns.
Clytemnestra (klitemnestrb) Archetype of a
vengeful mother or faithless wife. In Greek
mythology Clytemnestra was the daughter of Leda
and King Tyndareus of Sparta and became the wife
of Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks during the
Trojan War. With the help of her lover Aegisthus,
she murdered Agamemnon in his bath upon his
return from the war in revenge for the sacrifi ce of
her daughter Iphigenia, who had been put to death
to appease the goddess Artemis after the Greek
fl eet was becalmed at Aulis. She, in her turn, was
murdered by her son Orestes. <strong>The</strong> duchess turned
out to be a Clytemnestra in disguise, plotting a bloody
revenge upon her husband.
coals of fi re See heap coals of fi re.
coals to Newcastle Something taken to a place
where it is already in plentiful supply. Newcastle
upon Tyne, in the northeast of En gland, lies at the
center of what was the thriving British coal industry,
and thus to carry coal there would have been
pointless. <strong>The</strong> expression dates from the 17th century.
Providing the Inuit with ice- making machines is
rather like carry ing coals to Newcastle.
coat of many colors A multicolored garment.
<strong>The</strong> original coat of many colors was the coat presented
by Jacob to his favorite son, Joseph, as a
sign of his special love for him, as related in Genesis
37:3: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all
his children, because he was the son of his old age:
and he made him a coat of many colours.” <strong>The</strong> gift
made Joseph’s brothers so jealous that they stole
the coat, stained it with blood, and told their father
that Joseph had been killed by wild animals, while
selling Joseph into slavery. In some translations the
coat is perhaps more accurately described as being
a long robe with sleeves or a richly ornamented
robe. His mother’s latest acquisition was a truly hideous
coat of many colors, guaranteed to cause alarm wherever
she dared to wear it.
Cockaigne See land of cockaigne.