poisoned chalice

English

WOTD – 27 August 2020

Etymology

From poisoned + chalice (“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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɪzn̩d ˈtʃælɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɪzənd ˈtʃælɪs/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælɪs
• Hyphenation: poi‧soned cha‧lice

Noun

poisoned chalice (plural poisoned chalices)

1. (idiomatic) 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.

   Antonym: blessing in disguise

   Hyponym: hospital pass

   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii], page 135, column 1:

     [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.

   • 1798, Peter Porcupine [pseudonym; William Cobbett], Democratic Principles Illustrated. Part the Second. […], 4th edition, London: […] J. Wright, […], →OCLC, page 17:

     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.

   • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 139:

     Remember the death of Wilson was fearfully avenged; and those yet live who can compel you to drink the dregs of your poisoned chalice.— [...]

   • 1861 May 11, W. L. Underwood, “Another interview with Mr. [Abraham] Lincoln”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     You need not, therefore, be surprised to hear of the vigorous blockade of the Chesapeake and Hampton Roads, and of the ports of seceded States, and that if these States erect batteries at Memphis or Vicksburgh to intercept the commerce of the Mississippi, that measures of stern retaliation or resistance will be inaugurated by the Government, to force the poisoned chalice to the lips of those who first drugged it.

   • 1989, Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 519:

     The great spiritual visions of human history have also been poisoned chalices, the causes of untold misery and even savagery.

   • 1989 June 30, Antony Walker, “Iran’s confident new face”, in The Age, Melbourne, Vic.: Fairfax Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 4:

     His [Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's] role last year in persuading Ayatollah [Ruhollah] Khomeini to agree a Gulf War ceasefire – a decision the imam likened "to drinking from a poisoned chalice" – enhanced his reputation for pragmatism.

   • 2007, Ali A[bdul-Amir] Allawi, “Showdown at the Shrine”, in The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 316:

     The CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] left the Interim Government with two unresolved crises that were more akin to poisoned chalices.

   • 2013 November 24, “Editorial: Reports of a Murdoch-Blair feud are good news for Labour”, in The Independent‎^[2], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 June 2016:

     It is why the question of whether Labour should have accepted the support of his [Rupert Murdoch's] media empire as a gift, or spurned it as a poisoned chalice, retains a certain relevance.

   • 2024 May 4, Guy Chazan, Leila Abboud, quoting Simon Hix, “Le Pen strains ties with German far-right”, in FT Weekend, page 2:

     “For them [the populist right], the AfD is becoming a poisoned chalice.”

Translations

something initially regarded as advantageous but which is later recognized to be disadvantageous or harmful

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: мядзве́джая паслу́га f (mjadzvjédžaja paslúha)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: danajský dar (cs) m, medvědí služba (cs) f
• Danish: bjørnetjeneste (da) c
• Dutch: gifbeker (nl) m, vergiftigd geschenk n
• Estonian: karuteene (et)
• Finnish: karhunpalvelus (fi), myrkkymalja
• French: cadeau empoisonné (fr) m, tunique de Nessus (fr) f
• Galician: agasallo envelenado m
• Georgian: დათვური სამსახური (datvuri samsaxuri)
• German: Bärendienst (de) m, Danaergeschenk (de) n, vergiftetes Geschenk n
• Italian: regalo avvelenato m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bjørnetjeneste (no) m

  Nynorsk: bjørneteneste

• Polish: koszula Dejaniry (pl) f, niedźwiedzia przysługa (pl) f
• Russian: медве́жья услу́га (ru) f (medvéžʹja uslúga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: медвеђа услуга f

  Roman: medvjeđa usluga f

• Slovak: danajský dar m
• Spanish: regalo envenenado m
• Swedish: björntjänst (sv) c

See also

• monkey's paw
• Trojan horse
• white elephant

Further reading

• “poisoned chalice, n.” under “poisoned, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2006.
• “poisoned chalice, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “poisoned chalice” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “poisoned chalice”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.