hoist by one's own petard
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Damaged or destroyed by one's own plan or action
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bị tổn thương hoặc phá hủy bởi chính kế hoạch hoặc hành động của mình
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: blown up by one's own explosive device
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The politician was hoist by his own petard when his scandalous past was exposed
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “hoist by one's own petard” mean?
Damaged or destroyed by one's own plan or action Literally: blown up by one's own explosive device
Is “hoist by one's own petard” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.