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

“Nonconformists are often regarded as mad, bad
and dangerous to know” (Philippa Davies, Status:
What It Is and How to Achieve It, 1991).
madding crowd See far from the madding
crowd.
madeleine (madblayn) An object that triggers
vivid memories of the otherwise forgotten past. A
madeleine is a small French cake, possibly named
after a 19th- century French pastry cook called
Madeleine Paulmier. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the novel
cycle À la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of
Things Past; 1913–27) by the French writer Marcel
Proust (1871–1922), in which the narrator tastes
one of these cakes and is instantly reminded of the
minutest details of his childhood. That small toy car
was like Proust’s madeleine to me, reminding me vividly
of many happy days spent in the playroom with my
brothers. See also proustian.
Madison Avenue (madisbn) <strong>The</strong> world of advertising.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to Madison Avenue in Manhattan,
New York, where many of the world’s
best- known designers have boutiques, and which
has been home to some of the biggest advertising
agencies since the 1920s. Madison Avenue takes its
name from Madison Square, which was itself
named after James Madison (1751–1836), the
fourth president of the United States. This is one of
the most expensive publicity campaigns ever devised by
Madison Avenue.
Maecenas (miseenbs) A generous patron of the
arts, especially literature. Gaius Cilnius Maecenas
(c. 70–8 b.c.) was a wealthy Roman noble and a
favorite of the Emperor Augustus until he was
obliged to go into seclusion later in life. He was
celebrated as a patron of literature and included
Horace and Virgil among the writers to whom he
lent his support. <strong>The</strong> literati were nothing if not sycophantic
in their response to the great man’s generosity,
hailing him as a veritable Maecenas for the new century.
maenads See bacchante.
Mae West (may west) An infl atable life vest. <strong>The</strong>
U.S. stage and movie actress Mae West (1892–
1980) was famous both for her buxom fi gure and
for her explicitly sexual per for mances, hence the
application of her name to life vests by airmen in
World War II. Mae West herself was delighted
with this act of homage, remarking in a letter to
members of the RAF: “I’ve been in Who’s Who, and
I know what’s what, but it’ll be the fi rst time I
ever made the dictionary.” You’ll fi nd your Mae Wests
in the locker over there. See also beulah, peel me a
grape; come up and see me sometime.
mafi a (mafeeb) A group of criminals or other
people, organizations, etc., who cooperate in
imposing their will on others. <strong>The</strong> term is most
commonly applied to Cosa Nostra (Italian for “our
thing”), the U.S. criminal network based around
families of ultimately Sicilian extraction. Mafi a
families are notorious for their involvement in
drugs, gambling, prostitution, extortion, and protection
rackets as well as for enforcing discipline
on their own members and for bloodily avenging
slights from outside the family. <strong>The</strong> word “mafi a”
means “boldness” in Sicilian, and itself may come
from the Arabic mahyah, meaning “bragging,” or
else from an Arabic word for a place of refuge. <strong>The</strong>
business is controlled by a mafi a of crooked operators. See
also godfather, the.
magdalen (magdblbn) A reformed prostitute; a
house for reformed prostitutes. <strong>The</strong> name alludes
magdalen
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