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poisoned chalice

noun
/ˈpɔɪzn̩d ˈtʃælɪs/UK/ˈpɔɪzənd ˈtʃælɪs/US

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from Dictionary is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Definitions

  1. Something which is initially regarded as advantageous but which is later recognized to be…

    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.

    • [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.
    • Let this, Englishmen, be a leſſon to you; throw from you the doctrine of equality, as you would the poiſoned chalice. Wherever this deteſtable principle gains ground to any extent, ruin muſt inevitably enſue.
    • Remember the death of Wilson was fearfully avenged; and those yet live who can compel you to drink the dregs of your poisoned chalice.— [...]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for poisoned chalice. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA