hoist by one's own petard

English

Alternative forms

• hoist with one's own petard
• hoist on one's own petard
• hoisted by one's own petard
• hoist with his own petard

Etymology

From the play Hamlet (III.iv.207) by Shakespeare:

• For tis the sport to haue the enginer / Hoist with his owne petar.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Adjective

hoist by one's own petard

1. (idiomatic) To be hurt or destroyed by one's own plot or device intended for another; to be "blown up by one's own bomb".

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

Usage notes

• In the US, the forms in "hoisted" are about as common as the forms in "hoist", in contrast to other usage of the past and past participle in which "hoisted" is fifteen times more common. Similarly in the UK, "hoisted" is far more common than "hoist" for general use of the verb, but in this specific idiom both forms are seen; a writer might be more likely to use "hoisted" when thinking of the hoisting as an event that occurred to the victim, and "hoist" when thinking of it as a state in which the victim finds themself ("She's been hoisted by..." / "Now she's hoist by...").

Translations

be hurt by one's own plot

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 害人反害己 (hàirén fǎn hàijǐ), 作法自毙 (zh) (zuòfǎzìbì), 自食其果 (zh) (zìshíqíguǒ)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: wie een put graaft voor een ander, valt er zelf in
• Egyptian: (ḫr n qn.f) (fallen through his own violence)
• Finnish: mennä omaan ansaansa
• German: mit den eigenen Waffen schlagen, Wer anderen eine Grube graebt, faellt selbst hinein
• Icelandic: genginn í eigin gildru m, (to be hoist by one's own petard) ganga í eigin gildru, fallinn á eigin bragði m, (to be hoist by one's own petard) falla á eigin bragði
• Italian: cadere nella propria trappola, darsi la zappa sui piedi, fare autogol
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 罠拵えて首突っ込む (わなこしらえてくびつっこむ, wana koshiraete kubi tsukkomu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: wpaść we własne sidła
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: una cucharada de su propia medicina, ir por lana y volver trasquilado
• Swedish: fångas i sin egen fälla (to be caught in one’s own trap), smaka på sin egen medicin (to taste one’s own medicine)
• Turkish: kendi kazdığı çukura düşmek
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: gậy ông đập lưng ông (vi)

See also

• rod for one's back
• own goal