poisoned chalice

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /ˈpɔɪzn̩d ˈtʃælɪs/    美 /ˈpɔɪzənd ˈtʃælɪs/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. Something which is initially regarded as advantageous but which is later recognized to be disadvantageous or harmful; an apparently beneficial or benign instrument or scheme for causing death or harm. idiomatic
    — [W]e but teach / Bloody Inſtructions, which, being taught, returne / To plague th' Inuentor. This euen-handed Iuſtice / Commends th' Ingredience of our poyſon'd Challice / To our owne lips.

词形变化

poisoned chalices plural

词源

From poisoned + chalice (“a large drinking cup”), referring to a chalice containing a poisoned drink which is offered to someone. The earliest use of the term cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (c. 1606), in a speech in which Macbeth flinches from the prospective murder of King Duncan: see the quotation.
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