Idiom: "Hoist with one's own petard"

Hoist with one's own petard/ be hoisted with/ by your own petard (formal): to suffer harm from a plan by which you had intended to harm someone else; victimized or hurt by one's own scheme. The phrase comes from William Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer/ Hoist with his own petar" Hoist in this case is the past participle of the verb hoise, meaning, "to lift/ raise" and petar(d) refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against him being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten. 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 of the original source. Hoisted with your own petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical wooden boxes. Whatever the shape, the significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder - basically what we would now call a bomb. The device was used by the military forces of all the major European fighting nations by the 16th century. In French and English - petar or petard, and in Spanish and Italian - petardo. The dictionary maker John Florio defined them like this in 1598: "Petardo - a squib or petard of gun powder vsed to burst vp gates or doores with." The French have the word 'péter' - to fart, which it's hard to imagine is unrelated. Petar was part of the everyday language around that time, as in this rather colourful line from Zackary Coke in his work Logick, 1654: "The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your entrances through heavens Portcullis". Cobbe family portrait of William ShakespeareOnce the word is known, 'hoist by your own petard' is easy to fathom. It's nice also to have a definitive source - no less than Shakespeare, who gives the line to Hamlet, 1602: "For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar". Note: engineers were originally constructors of military engine THESAURUS adulterate adulteration ,alloy at the expense of sb, idiom at-risk attack bandh bang bang up sb/sth, bastardize, be hoist(ed) with/by your own petard idiom ,bite, blemish, blight, bollocks, bollocks sth up, bugger, bugger sth up, bust, bust sth up, buzzkill, cheapen ,come between sb , cost sb dear idiom, cripple, cut, cut off your nose, to spite your face idiom, damage, damper, debauch, deface, deform, degradation ,degrade ,desecrate ,desecration, despoil ,detriment, dig, dig your own grave idiom, disservice ,distort ,distortion, do 1 ,do for sb/sth, down ,drive a wedge between sb idiom ,eat, eat away at sth ,erode, expense, flame ,flaw, foul ,foul (sth) up ,gild ,gild the lily idiom, gilt, gloss, gnaw ,gnaw away at sth, go up in flames idiom, go west idiom ,goonda ,harm ,hit ,hoist ,hurt ,ill ,impair ,impairment ,interfere, interfere with sth ,invade ,joint ,kibosh ,kick/hit sb when he/she is down idiom ,louse, louse (sth) up,make (a) nonsense of sth idiom, make a muck of sth idiom, mangle,mar, mess, mess around with sth, mess sth up ,mischief, mockers ,monkey ,monkey around with sth ,muck, muck sth up, muck-up, muff ,nickel-and-dime ,nonsense ,overhang ,overhung ,play (merry) ,hell with sth idiom ,poison, pot ,punishing ,punishment ,put sth out of joint idiom, queer, rain on sb's parade idiom ,rampage ,ravage ,ravages, ruin ,scourge, seismic ,shatter, shoot sth up ,shred, smash, sour ,spoil, spoiling tactic ,strike a blow against/at sth idiom ,strike at the heart of sth idiom ,taint ,take its/a toll idiom ,take the gilt off the gingerbread idiom ,take the gloss off sth idiom, tamper with sth, tamper-evident, tear/rip sb/sth to shreds idiom, tell on sb the damage is done idiom ,threaten ,toll,too many cooks spoil the broth idiom, trash, unrestricted ,upset the apple cart idiom ,visit sth on/upon sb, wear wear (sth) out ,west, worn ,wreck ,write-off