hoisted on one's own petard
Backfired plot victim
Hoisted on one's own petard means harmed by one's own scheme or weapon.
A petard was a small bomb used to blow open gates; being hoisted by one meant being blown up by your own explosive.
The phrase describes someone whose plot backfires: He tried to frame his rival but was hoisted on his own petard when the evidence pointed back to him.
- backfiredProduced unintended harmful consequences
- blow up in one's faceAttempt fails catastrophically on initiator
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- cause and effectHow events produce results
- HamletDanish prince's revenge tragedy
poetic justice · unintended consequences · best laid plans · siege warfare · hubris · too clever by half · folly · repercussions · shooting oneself in the foot · moral lessons · self-destruction · fall on one's sword · irony · karma · what goes around · downfall · reaping what one sows · taste of one's own medicine
hoisted on one's own petardstabbed in the back
Treacherously harmed by trusted person
victimized · blindsided · sabotaged · ambushed · double-crossed
hoisted on one's own petardgot away with it
played one's cards right · mission accomplished · turned the tables · beat them at their own game · checkmate
hoisted on one's own petardluck of the devil
Improbable repeated good fortune
landed on one's feet · slipped through the cracks · unscathed