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

the horses tear their own er to pieces. Like Glaucus,
his passion for the turf proved his undoing.
Glaucus swap See diomedean exchange.
glory, in all one’s See in all one’s glory.
glory is departed, the <strong>The</strong> times are not what
they were; the golden age has passed. <strong>The</strong> expression
is biblical, appearing in 1 Samuel 4:21, where
Phineas’s wife names her new baby Ichabod
(meaning “inglorious” or “no glory”) after hearing
that the Philistines have captured the Ark of the
Covenant and that both the child’s father and
grandfather are dead. By the same token, the
name Ichabod has in times past been used as an
exclamation. “That pulpit would indeed be his
own. Precentors, vicars, and choristers might
hang up their harps on the willows. Ichabod! Ichabod!
<strong>The</strong> glory of their house was departing from
them” (Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, 1857).
“And then, Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory will be
departed from us” (T. H. Huxley, “A Liberal Education,”
1899).
glory to God in the highest See goodwill to
all men.
gnashing of teeth See weeping and gnashing
of teeth.
gnome (nom) A diminutive creature resembling
an old, deformed man: A familiar character of
fairy tale and legend, conventionally described as
living underground in mines or quarries, the
gnome has obscure ancient roots and was probably
named from the Greek genomos (meaning “earth
dweller”). “Hitherto he had been treated very
much as if he had been a useful gnome or
go and sin no more
brownie—a queer and unaccountable creature,
who must necessarily be looked at with wondering
curiosity and repulsion, and with whom one
would be glad to make all greetings and bargains
as brief as possible, but who must be dealt with in
a propitiatory way” (George Eliot, Silas Marner,
1861).
go ahead, make my day I would be only too
pleased to be challenged. <strong>The</strong> expression is a quotation
from the 1983 movie Sudden Impact, in
which it is delivered by Clint Eastwood in the
character of tough San Francisco detective Harry
Callaghan facing a suspected killer and daring him
to raise his gun in an attempt to shoot it out. If you
want to fi ght me over this, then go ahead, make my day.
See also dirty harry.
go and do thou likewise Do the same thing; act
in a similar fashion. <strong>The</strong> expression is biblical,
appearing in Luke 10:37 in the parable of the
Good Samaritan, where it is spoken by Christ and
intended as encouragement to behave with the
same charity. In modern usage it often appears in a
rather more discouraging context in the form of
an euphemistic admonition to someone to go away
or otherwise refrain from interfering or some
other action. I told that jerk to get lost, and if you’re
sensible you’ll go and do thou likewise before I get really
angry.
go and sin no more You will not be punished for
what you have done but do not do wrong again.
<strong>The</strong> expression comes from the biblical account of
the woman taken in adultery in John 8:5–12, in
which Christ forgives a woman who is faced with
death by stoning on charges of adultery. When
Christ challenges any member of the mob who is
not guilty of sin himself to cast the fi rst stone, no
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