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

Star Wars
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Star Wars High technology, especially space
technology. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the six Star Wars
movies of George Lucas (b. 1944), which began
with Star Wars (1977) and was completed with
Revenge of the Sith in 2005. <strong>The</strong>se epic space movies
traced the evolution of such memorable characters
as Luke Skywalker (the young hero of the fi rst
three movies), darth vader, obi- wan kenobi,
and yoda. <strong>The</strong> series became synonymous with the
military use of space and in the early 1980s, when
President Ronald Reagan announced plans to develop
a system of space lasers (the Strategic Defense Initiative)
to knock out nuclear missiles before they could
reach their targets, the press were quick to dub the
project “Star Wars.” Modern hospitals are making
extensive use of Star Wars laser technology.
stations of the cross A series of landmark
events. <strong>The</strong> original Stations of the Cross recorded
14 incidents that occurred during Christ’s journey
from the judgment hall in Jerusalem to his death
by crucifi xion at Calvary: 1) Christ is condemned
to death, 2) Christ receives the cross, 3) Christ’s
fi rst fall en route to Calvary, 4) Christ meets his
mother, 5) Simon of Cyrene is made to carry the
cross, 6) Christ’s face is wiped by Veronica (a
woman of Jerusalem), 7) Christ’s second fall, 8)
Christ comforts the women of Jerusalem, 9)
Christ’s third fall, 10) Christ is stripped of his garments,
11) Christ is nailed to the cross, 12) Christ
dies on the cross, 13) Christ’s body is taken down
from the cross, and 14) Christ’s body is laid in the
tomb. Repre sen ta tions of these incidents are often
arranged around the interior of a church and visited
in sequence for prayer and meditation, especially
during Lent. Her divorce marked the last and
most important of the personal stations of the cross she
would have to endure on the road to artistic selfknowledge.
See also via dolorosa.
Statue of Liberty An internationally recognized
emblem of freedom. <strong>The</strong> Statue of Liberty, formally
entitled “Liberty Enlightening the World,” is a
colossal statue of a woman in classical drapery holding
aloft a burning torch and carry ing a tablet bearing
the date July 4, 1776. It stands on Liberty Island
at the entrance to New York harbor (close to but
not actually on Ellis Island, which was until 1954
the main point of entry for foreign immigrants).
<strong>The</strong> statue, unveiled in 1886, was the work of
French sculptor Frédéric- Auguste Bartholdi (1834–
1904) and was a gift from France to the United
States. He was as American as the Statue of Liberty.
steal someone’s thunder To preempt someone,
and thus to deprive him or her of credit or recognition
that he or she is due. <strong>The</strong> story goes that the
now largely forgotten En glish playwright and
critic John Dennis (1657–1734) conceived a simple
device to produce the sound of thunder for his
own play Appius and Virginia (1709), possibly consisting
of a series of hollowed logs. <strong>The</strong> play was
not a success, but his thunder device was, and
Dennis was incensed when he heard it being used
in a per for mance of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth
(1606), exclaiming: “Damn them! <strong>The</strong>y will
not let my play run, but they steal my thunder!” He
rushed round to tell everyone the news, only to fi nd that
someone else had got there fi rst and stolen his thunder.
stentorian (stentoreebn) Very loud, especially as
regards speaking, or forcefully expressed. <strong>The</strong>
word alludes to a Greek herald called Stentor,
whose voice (according to Homer) was so loud it
was equivalent to those of 50 other men. He died
after losing a shouting contest with Hermes, the
herald of the gods. <strong>The</strong> word itself means “voice of
bronze.” “<strong>The</strong> stentorian tones of the auctioneer,
calling out to clear the way, now announced that