Meaning of hoist by one's own petard | Babel Free

Definitions

Hurt or destroyed by one's own plot or device intended for another; "blown up by one's own bomb".

idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“He has no one to blame but himself; he was hoisted by his own petard.”

“For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his owne petar, an't ſhall goe hard”

“Unhappily, the country as well as Mr. Marples has been hoist by the Minister's petard. (Mr. Marples was the Minister concerned)”

“The danger with Trump would seem to be that, like Berlusconi, he would be hoist by his own petard, self-destructing precisely through the agent of his rise, and dragging the rest of us with him.”

“At last, the opposition spoke with one voice, and Boris Johnson was hoist by his own petard. It’s hard to see how he gets out of it.”

CEFR level