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

another—Tit for tat; an eye for an eye; a tooth for
a tooth; blood for blood; mea sure for mea sure;
love for love” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation,”
1841).
meat that ye know not of A private source of
solace, sustenance, or other support, especially of
a spiritual nature. <strong>The</strong> expression comes from John
4:32 in which the disciples entreat Christ to eat
something but receive the reply that “I have meat
to eat that ye know not of.” When asked how he
supported himself, the wizard cryptically replied to his
followers, “I have meat you know not of.”
mecca (mekb) An ultimate goal or ambition, a
place that attracts many visitors or tourists. <strong>The</strong> term
comes from Mecca, a city in modern Saudi Arabia
that has special signifi cance in Islamic lore as the
birthplace of muhammad and as a result is the destination
for Muslims taking the hajj, or pilgrimage
that all the faithful are supposed to take at least once
in their lifetime. “East Grafton was the ancient habitat
of the race, and Penhallow Grange, where ‘old’
John Penhallow lived, was a Mecca to them” (Lucy
Maud Montgomery, Chronicles of Avonlea, 1912).
Medea (medeeb) A vengeful, jealous, and cruel
woman, especially one believed to be a sorceress.
In Greek legend Medea was the daughter of the
king of Colchis, an enchantress who helped her
lover Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for
the golden fl eece. <strong>The</strong> victims of her cruelty
included her own brother Absyrtus (whom she cut
into pieces to delay pursuit by her father), Jason’s
uncle Pelias, and ultimately the princess Glauce
and her father King Creon of Corinth after Jason
decided to abandon Medea and marry Glauce. She
also killed the children she had borne Jason and,
after seeking shelter at the court of King Aegeus,
sought to poison the king’s son <strong>The</strong>seus. When this
plot failed she fl ed to Colchis. <strong>The</strong> rest of the family
were jaundiced in their opinion of the old lady, generally
agreeing she had behaved like a Medea over her husband’s
relatively innocuous lapse.
Medes and Persians, law of the See law of the
medes and persians.
Medici (medeechee) Patrons of culture and the
arts. <strong>The</strong> Medici family, notably Cosimo de’ Medici
(1389–1464), towered over the Italian re naissance
of the 14th and 15th centuries, using their
great wealth to foster the talents of such luminaries
as Botticelli, leonardo da vinci, and michelangelo.
Toward the end of the 19th century several
prominent East Coast families vied to become the Medicis
of their day.
medium is the message, the Sometimes the
means by which communication is made is more
signifi cant than the message itself. This is a quotation
from Understanding Media (1964) by the Canadian
phi los o pher Marshall McLuhan (1911–80),
in which the author argues that the changing pace
of technology represented by computers and other
electronic media is a dominant infl uence upon
modern life, outweighing anything actually communicated
using such media. “<strong>The</strong> medium is the
message because the message, the culture and ideology
of consumerism, has engulfed the medium”
(Leslie Sklair, Sociology of the Global System, 1991).
medusa (medoosb) Alternative name for a jellyfi
sh. <strong>The</strong> creature received its name through a
fancied resemblance between its tentacles and the
snake hair of the fearsome Medusa, one of the
gorgons. According to legend, she acquired
her loathsome appearance as punishment for
medusa
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