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

Hippocrates
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Hippocrates See galenical; hippocratic oath.
Hippocratic oath (hipokratik) <strong>The</strong> ritual promise
traditionally made by doctors on qualifying
for medical practice to the effect that they will
observe the highest ethical standards and observe
the confi dentiality of their patients. Hippocrates
(c. 460–c. 370 b.c.) was a Greek physician who
for his 87 treatises on medical practice is remembered
today as the father of medicine. Students
under Hippocrates were believed to take such an
oath. <strong>The</strong> name of Hippocrates is also preserved
in Hippocrates’ sleeve, a square piece of fl annel
folded into a triangle and used to strain liquids.
Many doctors practicing today have only a hazy notion
of what the Hippocratic oath really says, although
they are aware of the seriousness that it has for
patients.
Hippocrene See helicon.
hippogriff (hipogrif ) Symbol of love. In Greek
mythology, the hippogriff was a winged horse, the
offspring of a griffi n and a fi lly. Her head swam with
emotion: <strong>The</strong> winged hippogriff of love had planted its
hooves in her heart.
Hippolyta See amazon; labors of hercules.
Hiroshima (hirbsheemb, hbroshimb) A place that
has been devastated by a nuclear explosion. <strong>The</strong>
city of Hiroshima in Japan was largely obliterated
when the U.S. Air Force dropped an atom bomb
on it on August 6, 1945, the fi rst instance of such a
device being used in war. Over 160,000 people
died and, after a second bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki four days later, the Japa nese government
surrendered. Since then the name of Hiroshima
has been widely understood to represent
the dreadful threat of widespread nuclear destruction,
though it may also be employed in a range of
other contexts. “To limit poetry is a Hiroshima of
the human spirit” (Edmund J. Smyth, Postmodernism
and Contemporary Fiction, 1991).
his master’s voice An authority that must be
obeyed. <strong>The</strong> allusion has its roots in an advertisement
for the Victor record company that featured
a fox terrier listening to the sound coming from
an old- fashioned phonograph horn (later updated
as a gramophone horn), above the slogan “His
master’s voice.” In real life the dog, named Nipper,
had been owned by the brother of an En glish artist
called Francis Barraud, the paint er of the picture
used in the original advertisement. When Nipper’s
master died, the terrier was handed over to Francis
Barraud together with some wax cylinders on
which his brother’s voice had been recorded.
Whenever these were played, Nipper focused hard
on the horn from which his dead master’s voice
emanated, giving Barraud the idea for his famous
painting. In modern usage, the phrase is typically
muttered (with varying degrees of resentment) in
apology when having to break off to do the bidding
of someone else. <strong>The</strong> phrase (and dog logo) is
still present in the record industry, albeit in truncated
form, in the name of the HMV music and
video stores. I’d love to stop and chat but I’d better
answer his master’s voice.
hit below the belt To act in an underhand manner
against an opponent. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to prizefi
ghting and the stipulation in the queensberry
rules, which govern the sport of boxing, that it is
illegal to punch an opponent below the waist belt.
Something that is below the belt is thus something
of an unfair or illicit nature. “That was below
the belt, but instead of stopping there while she