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

Euphrosyne See three graces.
Eureka! (yooreekb) Expression of delightful
triumph at making a discovery of some kind or in
reaching a solution to a problem. According to
tradition, the Sicilian mathematician Archimedes
(287–212 b.c.) uttered “Eureka!” (meaning “I
have found it!”) after solving the problem of how
to assess the amount of gold in a supposedly solidgold
crown. <strong>The</strong> crown, made on the orders of
Heiron II of Syracuse, was suspected of having
been adulterated with cheaper alloys, the presence
of which could not be detected by visual
examination or by weight. <strong>The</strong> king called on the
mathematician to fi nd a way to verify its content
without damaging the crown. As he lay in his bath,
Archimedes noticed how his body displaced some
of the water and realized that the answer lay in
comparing the volume of water displaced by the
crown and that displaced by the equivalent
amount of pure gold when both were immersed,
as the density of gold was known to be different
to that of any other metal. If there was a difference
between the two, the king had been
cheated—as proved the case. “Eureka!” is also the
motto of California, recalling the gold rush that
took place there. “In one place I suddenly found
myself near the model of a tin- mine, and then by
the merest accident I discovered, in an air- tight
case, two dynamite cartridges! I shouted ‘Eureka!’
and smashed the case with joy” (H. G. Wells, <strong>The</strong>
Time Machine, 1895).
Euryalus See nisus and euryalus.
Eurydice See orpheus.
Euterpe See muses.
Eve (eev) <strong>The</strong> archetypal woman. According to
the Book of Genesis, Eve was the fi rst woman,
created by God as a companion for adam and
named by Adam himself: “And Adam called his
wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all
living” (Genesis 3:20). <strong>The</strong> name Eve itself comes
from the Hebrew hawwah (meaning “life”). It was
Eve who succumbed to the persuasion of the serpent
to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of
knowledge and thus brought about the expulsion
of Adam and Eve from the garden of eden. <strong>The</strong>
Virgin Mary is sometimes referred to as “the new
Eve.” Woman in general are sometimes referred
to as daughters of Eve. “Joanna the faithless, the
betrayer: Joanna who mocked him, whispered
about him behind his back, trapped and tortured
him. Joanna Eve” (Fay Weldon, <strong>The</strong> Cloning of
Joanna May, 1989). See also adam and eve; adam’s
rib.
even Homer nods See homer sometimes nods.
Everest See mount everest.
every dog has his day Even the most lowly and
humble will eventually get their opportunity for
glory or success. This proverb has its roots in a
Roman saying and was popularly attributed to a
legend concerning the death (in 406 b.c.) of the
Greek playwright Euripides, who was reputedly
torn to pieces by dogs set upon him by his rivals
Arrhidaeus and Crateuas. “Let Hercules himself
do what he may, the cat will mew, and dog will
have his day” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet,
c. 1600).
Everyman <strong>The</strong> common man, the ordinary man
in the street. Everyman appeared as a character in
En glish literature as early as the 15th century,
Everyman
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