hoist by one's own petard

Variant of petard

petard definition

pe·tard (pi tärd′)

noun

  1. a metal cone filled with explosives, fastened in ancient warfare to walls and gates and exploded to force an opening
  2. a kind of firecracker

Etymology: Fr pétard < péter, to break wind < pet, fart < L peditum < peditus, pp. of pedere, to break wind < IE base *pezd-, of echoic orig.

petard Idioms

hoist with one's own petard

destroyed by the very devices with which one meant to destroy others: cf. Hamlet, III, iv

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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