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

agriculture that took place under his direction.
<strong>The</strong> name Stalin, incidentally, means “man of
steel.” <strong>The</strong> council has come under the infl uence of a
local Stalin, who is ready to sacrifi ce anyone to his will.
Stallone, Sylvester See rambo.
Stanley, Henry Morton See darkest africa;
doctor livingstone, i presume?
star chamber A tribunal that is noted for its
severity and which operates free from the usual
checks and mea sures. <strong>The</strong> original Star Chamber
was a room in Westminster Palace in London in
which a special court sat to try powerful nobles
who had offended the Crown; its name referred to
the gilt stars that were painted on the ceiling. <strong>The</strong>
tyrannical power of the Star Chamber, which
employed torture to obtain confessions, ended
with its abolition by Parliament in 1641. “Finally,
ministers who could not agree were sent before a
‘Star Chamber’ of nonspending ministers or ministers
who have ‘settled’ ” (H. Glennerster, Paying
for Welfare: <strong>The</strong> 1990s, 1992).
star of David A symbol consisting of two superimposed
equilateral triangles arranged in the form
of a star. <strong>The</strong> origins of the symbol are uncertain
but appear to go back to biblical times, although it
is not mentioned specifi cally in the Bible or the
Talmud. It was adopted by the fi rst Zionist Conference
in 1897 and in due course became the
symbol on the fl ag of in de pen dent Israel. During
the Nazi era, authorities implemented, beginning
in 1939, the obligatory wearing of the star of
David by Jews on their clothing as a “badge” displaying
their racial origins. <strong>The</strong> Jewish nation has
united under the star of David and will stand together
until the crisis is past. See also solomon’s seal.
starship Enterprise See star trek.
stars in their courses Fate; destiny. <strong>The</strong> phrase is
a quotation from Judges 5:20, which describes
how “the stars in their courses fought against
Sisera.” Sisera was a Canaanite general who was
doomed to defeat by Deborah and Barak and to his
own murder at the hands of Jael, the wife of Heber
( Judges 4:17–22). He has since become an archetype
of a person who struggles futilely against his
fate. “Thus the stars in their courses, fought for
Darwin” (George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah,
1921).
Starsky and Hutch A pair of heroic, dashing
police detectives. <strong>The</strong> 1970s U.S. tele vi sion series
Starsky and Hutch introduced two stylish and likable
undercover Los Angeles detectives, Dave
Starsky (played by Paul Michael Glaser) and Ken
Hutchinson (played by David Soul), and became
one of the most pop u lar police procedurals of its
era. <strong>The</strong>y arrived in town like Starsky and Hutch, driving
a big red car and wearing thick knitted sweaters.
Star Trek Archetypal science- fi ction series. First
screened in 1966, the series introduced many
stock features of future science- fi ction programs
and made stars of such characters as Captain
Kirk, the Vulcan Mr. Spock, chief engineer Scotty
(see beam me up, scotty) and medical offi cer Dr.
McCoy. <strong>The</strong> series following the journeys through
space of the starship Enterprise continued with
movies for the cinema and further tele vi sion series
featuring new characters. It also introduced one of
the best- known examples of a split infi nitive in its
opening statement of the starship’s mission “to
boldly go where no man has gone before.” <strong>The</strong>
hotel had been fi tted out with so much chrome and automatic
doors it looked like something out of Star Trek.
Star Trek
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