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

the sun’s rays would melt the wax holding the
wings together, and the lad plummeted into the
Aegean Sea and was drowned. Daedalus completed
his fl ight safely and found refuge at the court of the
king of Sicily. As further proof of his ingenuity,
Daedalus was also credited with the invention of
the saw, the ax, and the gimlet, among other
devices. <strong>The</strong> engineers were confronted by a problem of
such Daedalian complexity that for a time it seemed a
solution would be beyond any of them.
Dagon (daygon) A sea monster or whale. In the
Bible, Dagon is a Philistine god, possibly with a
human upper half and fi shlike lower half (Judges
16:23–24 and 1 Samuel 5:1–5). Other authorities
do not consider him to be a fi sh god but rather a
storm or grain god, since Dagon is related to a
Hebrew word for “grain.” Samson destroyed the
temple to Dagon at Gaza, and Dagon himself died
when the ark of God was brought to his house, his
body being found next morning with severed head
and hands. John Milton, meanwhile, in Paradise Lost
(1667) identifi es Dagon as one of the fallen angels.
“In fact, placed before the strict and piercing truth,
this whole story will fare like that fi sh, fl esh, and
fowl idol of the Philistines, Dagon by name; who
being planted before the ark of Israel, his horse’s
head and both the palms of his hands fell off from
him, and only the stump or fi shy part of him
remained” (Herman Melville, Moby- Dick, 1851).
daily bread <strong>The</strong> income or sustenance necessary
in order to live. <strong>The</strong> phrase has its origins in the
Lord’s Prayer, where it appears in the form of the
petition “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew
6:11). “. . . these true gentlefolk showed
Polly their respect and regard, put many pleasures
in her way, and when they paid her for her work,
gave her also the hearty thanks that takes away all
sense of degradation even from the humblest service,
for money so earned and paid sweetens the
daily bread it buys, and makes the mutual obligation
a mutual benefi t and plea sure” (Louisa May
Alcott, An Old Fashioned Girl, 1870).
Daliesque See dada.
Dallas (dalbs) <strong>The</strong> glossy, cutthroat, superfi cial
world of multimillionaire wheeler- dealing. <strong>The</strong>
allusion is to the highly pop u lar U.S. tele vi sion
series Dallas, which ran from 1978 to 1991 on the
strength of barely credible melodramatic plots and
the glitzy, bitchy romantic relationships of J. R.
and Sue Ellen Ewing and the other central characters.
It was like a scene out of Dallas, with rival lovers
slugging it out in the swimming pool as their respective
wives shrieked their anger at being ignored.
Damascus, road to See road to damascus.
Damien (daymeebn) Archetype of a badly
behaved or evil young boy. Damien Thorn was the
name of the central character (actually the Antichrist)
in the 1976 horror fi lm <strong>The</strong> Omen and its
sequels. Everyone thought her son was a sweet child, but
he turned out to be a real Damien who took advantage of
anyone who showed him kindness.
Damocles, sword of See sword of damocles.
Damon and Pythias
Damon and Pythias (daymbn, pitheeas) <strong>The</strong>
archetype of perfect friendship. Damon and Pythias
(or Phintias) were two close friends who lived
in Sicily under the tyrannical rule of Dionysius of
Syracuse in the fi fth century b.c. Pythias was a philos
o pher and follower of Pythagoras who found
himself under a death sentence on charges of treason.
Dionysius agreed to the condemned man’s
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