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

only answer by invoking the protection of all the
patriarchs of the Old Testament successively against
the sons of Ishmael, who were coming to smite
them, hip and thigh, with the edge of the sword”
(Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1819).
smite the rock To perform a miraculous act. <strong>The</strong>
reference is to Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11,
which relate how God instructed Moses to provide
water for his people journeying in the wilderness:
“Behold, I will stand before thee there
upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the
rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the
people may drink.” When Moses struck the rock
water poured forth. This time there were no resources
left to save them; the rock had been smitten one too many
times. See also moses’ rod.
smoke- fi lled room A room in which hard bargaining
or other intense negotiations take place.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the tobacco smoke that tends to
fi ll the room during long hours of discussion. <strong>The</strong>
term was fi rst applied to a suite in Chicago’s Blackstone
Hotel, the scene of negotiations leading to
the selection of Warren Harding as the Republican
presidential candidate in 1920. Her destiny was
decided in a smoke- fi lled room by a bunch of el der ly relatives
and their lawyers.
smoking gun Irrefutable evidence that places the
guilt for a crime or other act at a par tic u lar person’s
door. <strong>The</strong> phrase alludes to a gun from which
a bullet has just been fi red. <strong>The</strong> search for a “smoking
gun” was famously undertaken by journalists
investigating the watergate scandal of 1973,
which led ultimately to the downfall of Richard
Nixon as U.S. president. <strong>The</strong> evidence that sealed
the president’s fate was a tape recording in which
Nixon was heard sanctioning the cover- up into the
Watergate burglary. <strong>The</strong> phrase was in frequent
use once more in 2003 in relation to the search for
the alleged “weapons of mass destruction” thought
to have been developed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
This could be the smoking gun that sends the
defendants to prison.
Snow White A girl or woman of stainless virtue,
or one who at least appears to be entirely innocent.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the fairy tale Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs, which tells how the lovely Snow
White becomes house keeper to some kindly
dwarfs but then falls victim to the scheming guiles
of her stepmother, an evil queen who is jealous of
Snow White’s beauty and feeds her a piece of poisoned
apple. Snow White falls into a deep sleep,
from which she is eventually awakened by the kiss
of a young prince. She may look as if butter wouldn’t
melt in her mouth, but she’s no Snow White. See also
prince charming.
soap opera A long- running radio or tele vi sion
drama series, usually with a domestic setting and a
melodramatic tone. <strong>The</strong> fi rst such series were
sponsored by soap manufacturers, hence the name,
which is often shortened to simply soap. “<strong>The</strong>
demand for a little something to take the mind off
the day’s troubles is now much more fulfi lled by a
soap opera or a half- hour crime story on the telly”
(H. R. F. Keating, Writing Crime Fiction, 1986).
sock A symbol of comic drama. <strong>The</strong> sock (in
Latin soccus) was a low loose- fi tting slipper commonly
worn about the house in the ancient world
and also worn on stage by comic actors. “<strong>The</strong>n to
the well- trod stage anon / If Jonson’s learned sock
be on, / Or sweetest Shakespeare, fancy’s child, /
Warble his native wood- notes wild” ( John Milton,
L’Allegro, 1631). See also buskin.
sock
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