petards
Old siege bombs
Petards are small explosive devices used historically to breach doors, walls, or gates—essentially a bomb attached to a target and detonated.
The word survives almost entirely in the phrase hoist with one's own petard, meaning injured or defeated by one's own scheme or weapon.
The expression comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the image is of a saboteur blown up by his own bomb.
Breaking of agreement
- fortificationStrengthening defenses or nutrients
- bastionFortified defensive position
- rampartFortified defensive wall
- sapperMilitary construction soldier
mining · demolition · escalade · parapet · battlement · palisade · redoubt · embrasure
Raise with tackle
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- backfireYield unintended consequences
- boomerangSelf-returning thrown weapon
comeuppance · blunder · miscalculation · folly · trap · scheme · plot · Shakespeare
breach
Breaking of agreement
- fortificationStrengthening defenses or nutrients
- bastionFortified defensive position
- rampartFortified defensive wall
sapper · mining · demolition · escalade · parapet · battlement · palisade · redoubt · embrasure · castle
hoist
Raise with tackle
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
- backfireYield unintended consequences
boomerang · comeuppance · blunder · miscalculation · folly · trap · scheme · plot · Shakespeare · proverb
- coastal artillerycoastal batteries, gun emplacements, heavy ordnance, Fort Sumter, Fort McHenry
petardsfortifications
Defensive barriers against attack
ramparts · defensive walls · bulwarks · shields · barricades
petardsmasonry
Building with mortared blocks
bricks · mortar · reinforcements · buttresses · construction materials
- hoist by one's own petardHarmed by own plot
- hoisted by one's own petardHarmed by own plot
- hoisted on one's own petardHarmed by own scheme
- hoist with one's own petardHarmed by own scheme
- hoisted with one's own petardHarmed by own scheme
- hoist on one's own petardHarmed by own plan