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

ut were eventually obliged to back down. For the
fi rst time since Little Rock the use of troops to get black
children into school seems a possibility.
live by bread alone See man cannot live by
bread alone.
live by the sword shall die by the sword, those
who Those who employ violence to their own
ends will eventually fall victim to violence themselves.
<strong>The</strong> proverb is of biblical origin, appearing
in Matthew 26:52: “<strong>The</strong>n said Jesus unto him, Put
up again thy sword into his place: for all they that
take the sword shall perish with the sword.” “ ‘Had
He wished help,’ he said, ‘He could have summoned
legions of archangels from heaven, so what
need had He of your poor bow and arrow? Besides,
bethink you of His own words—that those who
live by the sword shall perish by the sword’ ” (Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, <strong>The</strong> White Company, 1891).
live dog is better than a dead lion, a See living
dog is better than a dead lion, a.
live off the fat of the land See fat of the land.
living dog is better than a dead lion, a It is better
to compromise and thus survive than perish through
one’s refusal to adapt. <strong>The</strong> proverb is found in Ecclesiastes
9:4: “To him that is joined to all the living
there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead
lion.” It is also found in the form a live dog is better
than a dead lion. “When the lion is shot, the
dog gets the spoil. So he had come in for Katherine,
Alan’s lioness. A live dog is better than a dead lion”
(D. H. Lawrence, <strong>The</strong> Woman, Who Rode Away, 1928).
Lizzie Borden (lizee bordbn) A female murderer,
especially one who murders her parents. <strong>The</strong>
original Lizzie Borden (1860–1927) was tried in
1893 for the murder of her father and stepmother
in Fall River, Massachusetts, after they were found
dead in the family home from multiple ax wounds.
Lizzie was acquitted, although a rhyme composed
at the time made no bones about her guilt: “Lizzie
Borden took an ax / And gave her mother forty
whacks; / When she saw what she had done / She
gave her father forty- one.” In fact, the stepmother
received 19 ax blows and Lizzie’s father 10.
Although many neighbors in Fall River remained
convinced of Lizzie Borden’s guilt, the crime was
never solved. <strong>The</strong> police reserved their opinions about
the case, but the papers were quick to label the grieving
daughter a Lizzie Borden.
loaves and fi shes See feeding the fi ve thousand.
Lochinvar (lokinvahr) A young, heroic knight.
Lochinvar features in the poem Marmion (1808) by
Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), in which he arrives
at a marriage feast and carries the bride away on
his horse: “O, young Lochinvar is come out of the
west, / Through all the wide Border his steed was
the best; / And save his good broadsword he weapons
had none, / He rode all unarm’d, and he rode
all alone. / So faithful in love, and so dauntless in
war, / <strong>The</strong>re never was knight like the young
Lochinvar.” In modern usage, the name is usually
applied sarcastically. “Look out, here comes young
Lochinvar,” the mayor quipped as the old man shuffl ed
into the hall, coughing and sneezing into a grubby
handkerchief.
Locusta (lokbstb) Archetype of a woman who
murders someone she is supposed to be nursing.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the imperial nurse who poisoned
the emperor Claudius on the instructions of his
Locusta
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