What does the phrase hoisted by your own petard mean?

Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, petard is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase “hoist with one’s own petard,” meaning “victimized or hurt by one’s own scheme.” The phrase comes from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “For ’tis the sport …

How do you hoist with his own petard?

A petar or petard is a small explosive device, so to be “hoist with his own petar” is to be blown up by your own bomb (as in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4, where Hamlet refers to Polonius being destroyed by his own plotting). It is not a flagpole, so the common usage “hoist on one’s own petard” makes no sense.

Is it hoist or hoisted?

If you hoist something heavy somewhere, you lift it or pull it up there. If something heavy is hoisted somewhere, it is lifted there using a machine such as a crane.

Where did the phrase hoist with his own petard first appear?

Hamlet
The phrase occurs in Hamlet Act 3, Scene 4, as a part of one of Hamlet’s speeches in the Closet Scene.

How many petards does it take to destroy a town center?

Required number to destroy certain buildings

How do you use the word hoist in a sentence?

Examples of hoist in a Sentence The engine was hoisted out with a winch. The cargo was hoisted up onto the ship. He stopped at a bar after work to hoist a few beers with his friends. She hoisted a last-second shot that would have won the game if it had gone in.

What is a hoist used for?

A hoist is a mechanical device that is used in healthcare to transfer physically disabled individuals from one place or position to another. Injuries (particularly back injuries) are common if manual lifting and handling of an individual is attempted due to the large strains placed on the body during this.

What is hoisting used for?

Hoisting allows functions to be safely used in code before they are declared. Variable and class declarations are also hoisted, so they too can be referenced before they are declared. Note that doing so can lead to unexpected errors, and is not generally recommended.

What is an example of a hoist?

Hoist is defined as to raise or lift using a rope or a pulley. An example of hoist is to pull up a sail on a sailboat.

What does it mean to be hoisted by one’s own petard?

The phrase ‘hoist with one’s own petard’ is often cited as ‘hoist by one’s own petard’. In the USA, ‘hoisted’ is preferred so the alternative forms there are ‘hoisted with one’s own petard’ is often cited as ‘hoisted by one’s own petard’.All the variants mean the same thing, although the ‘with’ form is strictly a more accurate version

What is the past participle of hoist these days?

The past participle of hoist these days is hoisted. The form’s a little different in this expression because it comes from Shakespeare, but the meaning’s the same. To be literally “hoist by one’s own petard” means to get blown up (lifted off the ground) by one’s own bomb.

Did Shakespeare coin the term hoist with his own petard?

However, OED gives hoist with his own petard its own entry, which does indicate that Shakespeare coined this particular use. 1. trans. To raise aloft by means of a rope or pulley and tackle, or by other mechanical appliance. a. orig. Naut., and chiefly to hoise sail; often with up.

What is the origin of the phrase ‘for the Enginer hoist with his own petard’?

The phrase is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘For ’tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petard’. In former times, a petard was a small bomb made of a metal or wooden box filled with explosive powder, while hoist here is the past participle of the dialect verb hoise , meaning ‘lift or remove’.