[General] hoist with one's own petard

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to help to me to interpret the phrase in bold in the following sentences?

Hamlet: I must go England; you know that?
Queen: Alack.
I had forgot; this so concluded on.
Hamlet: There’s letter sealed: and my teo schoolfellows,-
Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged,-
They bare the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For this the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard…
O! ‘its most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet…

hoist by one’s own petard = hoist with one’s own petard = fall in one’s own trap

Thanks for your efforts.

Regard,

V

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes, Vil, you're right.

'Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others.'
(The Phrase Finder)

Rover

 

[birdeen's call]

Does it mean that the past partciple of "hoist" is "hoist" and not "hoisted"?

 

[vil]

I'm not a teacher.


[hɔɪst] past participle from hoise

hoise [hɔɪz]

Sec .; Please. BP . hoised, Preach . Please. BP . hoist raise Synonym:
hoist

• •• hoist with / by one's own petard - stepped on his own mine, caught in a trap of their own , the victim of its own machinations

V.

 

[birdeen's call]

Thank you, I didn't know the word "hoise"!

 

[BobK]

Does it mean that the past participle of "hoist" is "hoist" and not "hoisted"?

It's a different word from the present-day 'hoist' (This doesn't stop people from unconsciously 'correcting it' - see for example United National Party - Minister Mervyn hoisted with his own petard – indicted on 9 counts. ). (I suspect this word was victim of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift , which threw up a lot of puns (or 'homonymic clashes' as philologers like to say ;-)). The less commonly used one of each pair went out of use. But occasionally there are fossils that show the other use - such as 'let' in tennis [which derives from the old 'let' = 'obstacle' - which you may have met in old documents in the phrase 'without let or hindrance'] Now where was I?... Oh yes, )

b