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

marketed by the showmen Barnum and Bailey (see
p. t. barnum) as “General Tom Thumb” and traveled
to Eu rope, where he was presented to both
Queen Victoria of En gland and Louis Philippe of
France. <strong>The</strong> space for the driver is so restricted you
would need to be Tom Thumb to feel comfortable.
tongues, gift of See gift of tongues.
Tonto See lone ranger.
tooth for a tooth See eye for an eye.
Tophet See gehenna.
Topsy Something that develops steadily under its
own volition and despite the fact that no one has
taken responsibility for it. <strong>The</strong> reference is to a
slave girl called Topsy in the antislavery novel Uncle
Tom’s Cabin (1851) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
(1811–96). When asked to account for her origins,
lacking any knowledge of her parents she replies
simply: “I ‘spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody
never made me.” Once the initial idea for the project
had been formed, it continued to grow over the years, like
Topsy.
tortoise See hare and the tortoise.
to the pure all things are pure See unto the
pure all things are pure.
touch me not See noli me tangere.
touch pitch and be defi led It is inevitable that if
a person has dealings with wickedness he or she
will be tainted with it. <strong>The</strong> proverb is from the
apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 13:1:
“He that toucheth pitch, shall be defi led therewith,
Tower of London
and he that hath fellowship with a proud man,
shall be like unto him.” A concise variant may be
found in the form pitch defi les. “Not in electioneering,
Mr. Romer, any more than in any other
pursuits, can a man touch pitch and not be
defi led; as thou, innocent as thou art, wilt soon
learn to thy terrible cost” (Anthony Trollope,
Doctor Thorne, 1858).
touch the hem of his garment See hem of his
garment, touch the.
Tower of Babel (baybbl, babbl) A scene of general
confusion and noise. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the
biblical Tower of Babel, which according to Genesis
11:4–9 was built with the intention of reaching
heaven. <strong>The</strong> Tower of Babel may have been a type
of Babylonian temple called a ziggurat. Ziggurats
were pyramid shaped, and some may have reached
more than 325 feet (100 meters) high. God
thwarted the efforts of the builders by making
them speak in different languages so that no one
could make himself or herself understood to
another. <strong>The</strong> word Babel itself means “gate of
God.” At the international airport, he stood still for a
moment and listened to the many languages being spoken
all around him. It was a veritable Tower of Babel.
Tower of London A state prison. <strong>The</strong> Tower of
London, which was built on the site of a fort
erected by the Romans under Julius Caesar, was
constructed by the Normans under William the
Conqueror in the 11th century and substantially
enlarged by later monarchs. It acquired a dreaded
reputation as a prison in which the state’s most
important prisoners were confi ned and sometimes
executed, including several members of the royal
family and the se nior aristocracy. Carry on like that
and you’ll end up in the Tower of London.
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