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

locusts, plague of
288
wife, Agrippina, and his son Britannicus on the
instructions of Agrippina’s son Nero. She was
rewarded by Nero but put to death by his successor,
Galba. <strong>The</strong> midwife has been arrested on suspicion
of acting Locusta to her defenseless charges.
locusts, plague of See plague of locusts.
Log See king log.
loins, gird up thy See gird up thy loins.
Lois Lane See superman.
Loki (lokee) Personifi cation of mischief and
evil. In Norse mythology Loki was identifi ed as
the god of mischief and destruction. He was the
sworn enemy of the good gods and caused the
death of Odin’s son Balder after tricking the blind
god Hod into striking Balder with a bough of mistletoe,
the one thing to which Balder was fatally
vulnerable. As punishment he was chained to a
rock, sentenced to remain there until the gods are
overthrown. <strong>The</strong> more the jury heard, the more the
defendant began to seem a truly evil man, the equal of
any Loki or Lucifer.
Lolita (loleetb) A young, sexually alluring girl,
especially one who is under the age of consent.
<strong>The</strong> highly controversial 1958 novel Lolita, by
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), describes how a
middle- aged professor called Humbert Humbert
falls disastrously in love with a 12- year- old girl,
whose real name is Dolores Haze. Stanley Kubrick’s
famous 1962 fi lm version of the book became one
of the most discussed movies of the era. People said
he made a complete fool of himself when he abandoned
his wife of 35 years for a Lolita younger than his granddaughter.
Loman, Willy See willy loman.
Lon Chaney (chaynee) A man with a menacing
appearance or personality. <strong>The</strong> U.S. actor Lon
Chaney (Leonidas Frank Chaney; 1883–1930)
established a reputation in silent horror movies of
the 1920s, being dubbed the Man of a Thousand
Faces for his ability to transform his appearance
with makeup. His son Lon Chaney Jr. (1906–73)
continued the family tradition by appearing in
similar roles. It’s very off- putting to get in a cab and
fi nd your driver looks like Lon Chaney.
Lone Ranger A hero who pits himself against the
evils of the world. <strong>The</strong> Lone Ranger was a pop u lar
Western radio and tele vi sion series, fi rst broadcast
in 1933, that featured a masked cowboy with a
white hat who enforced the law aided by his Native
American friend Tonto, who addresses him as
Kemo Sabe (supposedly meaning “faithful friend”
but not actually from any real Native American
language), and his white stallion Silver, who gallops
off with him on the command “Hi- ho, Silver,
away!” “Let’s just get everyone safe, and then you
can go out there and do your Lone Ranger impression
if you still want to” (Stephen Laws, Darkfall,
1993).
longest day A day in which a great many things
happen. <strong>The</strong> phrase is particularly associated
with d-day (June 6, 1944), which witnessed the
Allied landings in Normandy and was a landmark
in the fi nal defeat of Nazi Germany. It was used
as the title of an ambitious 1962 movie retelling
the events that took place on the fi rst day of the
invasion. Thousands of lives were changed forever on
the Longest Day.
long- haired hippie See hippie.